The Kombat Games
by ShaperOfWorlds
Summary: This story retells 3rd quarter quell, Catching Fire, as an action horror survival story. Out of desperation President Snow makes an alliance with Quan Chi to send Scorpion in the games to slaughter the tributes thereby foiling the escape & rebellion. Rated M for violence, extreme gore, gruesome fatalities, and profanity.
1. Chapter 1: The Forewarning

**Author's Notes: **

**This story is most similar to a horror story (why else would it be classified as a horror genre) where there's a killer (_bad guy_) who goes around killing the cast of characters, and the characters find ways to either escape or confront him. If your still confused, think of horror movies like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  
**

******This story can get very violent, especially when illustrating the fatalities. It is a Mortal Kombat crossover, so common sense will tell you fatalities are well...very gruesome. So if you cannot handle gore, DO NOT read this story.  
**

**This is my first fanfic on this site. So expect mistakes and errors here and there. I have a lot of ideas I want to introduce, develop, and hit upon. But may have difficulty conveying them in a way I am imagining them. Hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer, Of course I do not own the works of Mortal Kombat nor the Hunger Games. This is purely fan made.**

**And as another disclaimer, I take no responsibility on what this does to your psyche and mental well-being! Read at your own risk!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - The Forewarning**

Before Snow he sees himself at the mercy of the districts. The man who once controlled Panem, now stands humiliated before those he had ruled. On the way towards his execution, he saw familiar faces of tributes in the 75th games. Snow somehow knew the games would lead to his inevitable demise . The once all powerful President of the Capitol was now the entertainment. Like the games, millions watched as his execution was on display for everyone to see. Snow was tied up and dumped into a pool of molten lava.

His death was a dream, but it felt so real. Snow screamed waking up in agonizing pain. In fear Snow checked if his flesh was still on him, and saw it was. He then checked his clock and calendar to realize the 75th games were only days away. Snow never felt so powerless in his entire life.

Soon after hearing Snow scream in terror, his security guards came rushing in.

"Is everything alright?" the guard ask.

Snow replied in frustration, "No, No, NO!" Snow then took a brief sigh letting the desperation sink in. Trying regain his composure Snow let out a furious command, "My orders are to find me the best oracle you can find. I don't care if you have to search the depths of hell to find me one. Do it now!"

"Yes sir, I'll relay your orders," obeyed the guard.

* * *

Two days later, a wandering mystic in what appears to be the Gobi desert is approached by a messenger.

The messenger: "There appears to be a request for a sorcerer of the arcane arts like yourself."

The wander reacted with a skepticism, "I don't answer to every meager request that knocks on my door."

"The man requesting your audience is the ruler of a land that once used to be a powerful country. It fell into chaos, and now he is the President. Rumor has it no one dared oppose him once he took power. It would be an honor if a man of your caliber would answer his request."

The wander listened with a look of vested interest, and had a sinister look in his eye.


	2. Chapter 2: The Deadly Alliance

Chapter 2 - A Deadly Alliance

It was only now a day before the 75th games. Snow became more fearful as each day passed. As Snow was watching the tributes interview from his personal suite, the mystic appeared behind him.

As the mystic calmly entered Snow's personal chamber, he said "I am humbled that a man such as yourself would seek out a forgotten seer of the lost arts."

Snow had a look like he wanted to get right down to business, he had no time to spare on self glorifying boasting. Snow said, "let's make introductions brief, I have no time for patronizing."

The mystic replied, "right down to business, I like that. The name's Quan Chi."

Snow: "I am sure my staff has brief you on our tradition of the Hunger Games. Tell me, what do you foresee as the outcome?"

Quan Chi glanced at the contestants holding hands in unity. He condescendingly replied, "You summon me for what you already know, but are afraid to admit. The contestants in this year's game already demonstrated the will to defy 23 other contestants they were forced to fight against. What makes you think they don't have the will to defy you? Just look at the way how they hold their hands in solidarity with unwavering resolve."

Snow finally got the reaffirmation he was afraid to hear, that games would one day bring about his undoing. Quan Chi continuing his verbal assault, "At first these games made the districts fearful and coerced them into obedience. But now these games have become routine. Perceptions have evolved since then. Some now see it as a way to gain pride and fame. Others see it as an entertaining pastime. And there will be some who will see the games as the perfect tool to spark insurrection."

Listening to Quan Chi's words, Snow stared at him ferociously to see what he was trying to get at. Quan Chi continued, "Common sense will tell you after all these years of televising such an event, someone will get the bright idea to use the publicity the games generate as propaganda... for their own agenda. And now that your society so greatly adores these games, you can't end them without protest. Nor can you execute all the contestants without triggering another massive uprising."

Snow was losing his composure listening to the sorcerer speak. What bothered Snow was deep down Quan Chi spoke the truth. As much as the Hunger Games are a tool to intimidate the populace, the games are also a tool for the participates to influence all of Panem. For many years Snow denied and repressed his unconscious fears that the game's publicity will be the catalyst for Capitol's downfall. However as the President, Snow could no longer afford to dwell on why the Hunger Games will cause his inevitable demise. What the President needed right now was solutions not a diagnosis. Snow jumped right out of his seat and began to challenge the sorcerer for a panacea."I refuse to let these games undermine my authority. I summoned you to give me answers, not to chastise me about my impeding downfall. I demand to know how to fix this predicament that I am in!"

After hearing Snow loose his calm and cool, Quan Chi knew he had broken him down. Snow was at his mercy, but kept trying to repress his unconscious fear to maintain his presence of power. Quan Chi replied with confidence, "The solution to your problem is fairly simple. Allow the capitol to participate in this year games. If the districts want to unite behind the tributes, give the capitol someone to rally behind. Show them, that even the mightiest cannot withstand the onslaught of the Capitol."

Snow listened intensely and very much liked the idea. Year after year, the games have turned no name teenagers from subservient territories into legends. It was as though the Capitol began worshiping them, instead of the other way around. But the more Snow contemplated the idea, he was afraid that if the Capitol did indeed enter the games they would risk appearing weak. The more he thought about it, the more he became hesitant. He was afraid a Capitol contestant would be a big target causing the tributes to team and eliminate him first. If a tribute representing the Capitol were to be in the games, he must win. Snow deeply wanted to show to the districts the power of the Capitol, so that it may re-instill obedience back into the populace. But Snow didn't have a person that could get the job done.

Snow commented on Quan Chi's idea, "An interesting solution, but I don't have anyone I feel confident enough that will ensure a Capitol victory in the games... the Capitol has never trained a person for such a purpose. I would have to produce a tribute by tomorrow."

Quan Chi knew he had Snow where he wanted him. Snow was desperate for a solution, and Quan Chi provided him with one. Snow needed a Capitol victor in the games to reassert the Capitol's dominance, but had no worthy candidates for this position. He could see that Snow had no other choice but to rely on Quan Chi's assistance. Quan Chi responded to Snows concerns with, "Well you are in luck, I have a kombatant who can mercilessly annihilate your opponents. He will guarantee a FLAWLESS VICTORY for the Capitol!"

These words caught Snow's attention. And Quan Chi was in position to capitalize, "Now before I lend you my assistance, lets negotiate the terms of our deal..."


	3. Chapter 3: Test Your Might

Chapter 3 - Test Your Might

It was the morning before the games. Snow held a press conference in front of thousands of Capitol citizens. The 24 other tributes watched from their preparation rooms. After hearing about a last minute press conference, Haymich was concerned whether this meant Snow knew about the secret alliance to save Katniss and spark a rebellion. There were many thoughts racing through Haymich's mind. Was Snow going to execute the rebels now? Are they being forced into teams? Has the arena changed? Was their a spy in the group? The anxiety was overwhelming Haymich's mind, so much that he sought his well-known remedy of alcohol.

Snow got on the podium and addressed the eagerly awaiting crowd. "As you know for the third quarter quill, previous victors of our most coveted games are competing for the distinction of who is best of the best. But how can we crown a victor with this privilege when he has yet to face the best. Therefore, in addition to the current scenario for this year's Hunger Games, the Capitol will have the honor to compete. For such an event cannot live up to its grandeur without the Capitols' participation. And introducing the Capitol's tribute for this year's games, SCORPION!"

The platform lifted with a cold-soulless man in a yellow ninja outfit coming out of it. Scorpion was expressionless, almost as though he were a demon himself. The Capitol audience was too much in an uproar to dwell on the idea a demon was competing in this year's games. They were starstruck learning the Capitol itself was competing and frankly didn't care who was representing them. All that mattered to the audience was 'this guy better win'.

However, everyone else got bad vibes. The districts were petrified with the sight of Scorpion's demonic gaze. Worst of all, the other 24 tributes felt the feeling of bad omen. In the preparation rooms the 24 other contestants were trembling in fear. Peeta thought to himself, this was the Capitol's way of plotting revenge on him and Katniss for their defiance last year. Even the careers were startled. Brutus, Cashmere, Gloss, and Enobaria tried not show their hesitation in-front of the other tributes. The careers tried to repress the thought of their inevitable brutal death by thinking what fame it would bring if they could slay the first-ever Capitol tribute, but deep within the back of their minds they were trying fool themselves.

Scorpion was about to demonstrate his ruthlessness in front of the ecstatic Capitol crowd. Six wooden training dummies emerged surrounding Scorpion. With only one punch he broke a dummy in half and sent it flying towards the crowds hoping to catch its debris. He then threw one dummy into another and destroyed both of them in one swift move. With one powerful kick, the 4th dummy went flying sky high into an audience member hoping to catch it as a prize. To assault the 5th dummy, Scorpion pushed it down and smashed it into wooden fragments with one hard stomp. And against the last dummy, he chopped its wooden head to slice it in half.

Scorpion rose his right hand as though he was the guaranteed victor of the games, but showed no thought or expression from those soulless white eyes of his.

Snow got on the mic and closed the press conference with, "May the Odds Ever Be in Your Favor..."


	4. Chapter 4: Let the Games Begin

**Chapter 4 - Let the Games Begin**

The platforms containing the 24 tributes were being raised. However, Scorpion was nowhere to be found. Many tributes thought this was done intentionally to perhaps it giving them a fair start. Looking at cornucopia it was filled with weapons while containing food and shelter supplies scattered throughout the grass here and there. Each of the contestants had their own strategy for survival.

3...2...1... GO!

* * *

_Katniss' Point of View_

Quick, I need to grab a bow fast. Peeta and Mags are going to grab food and shelter items. Me and Finnick need to protect them in -case they are attacked. This Scorpion guy isn't here, but that doesn't mean we can take our time salvaging supplies.

"Katniss catch!" shouted Finnick as he threw her a bow and arrow.  
"Thanks, I got you covered. Find yourself a trident."

"Peeta, Mags gather food and shelter supplies and be quick." Katniss commanded.

Katniss was on guard like a sentry trying to watch out for the safety of her 3 allies. She glanced at a sole tribute, which appeared to be the male morphling, running straight towards the western wilderness without grabbing anything. From a distance it looked like Johanna and Blight were guarding Wiress and Beetee while they were digging through various items crates. They were obsessively searching for something.

Katniss then glanced towards the right of those 4 she could see Brutus, Enobaria, Gloss and Cashmere engaging other tributes. She was tempted to try snipe one of them while they were distracted but her priority was to make sure Peeta and Finnick were safe as they were moving closer and closer to the base of cornucopia.

* * *

_Wiress, Beetee, Johanna, Blight's Point of View_

Wiress and Beetee was desperately digging for the a wire hidden in one of the crates. But this meant staying in the bloodbath. Johanna was getting impatient and warned the two, "you too geysers better hurry up and find that wire you're looking for."

Beetee responded, "calm down. It wasn't our fault we got a last minute notice the wire is in one of these boxes. First this Scorpion guy, now this. It's like the game makers are onto us."

Blight wanted them to dig faster and interrupted the conversation, "stop talking and find it now! With this Scorpion guy in the games we need to escape as fast as we can..."

**BOOM, BOOM, BOOM**

Blight reacted to the cannon sounds signaling the death of the tributes, "Shit! The careers are coming. Johanna! Brutus is coming towards us. Ugh?, Do you think you can take him. I don't think he'll hit a girl you know."

Johanna was nervous at the idea that she had to engage a muscle head like Brutus with a spear in hand. She had no weapons; all she had was a shield she picked up running towards the crates. But someone had to stay on guard for Wiress and Beetee. She made her decision and told Blight, "So much for chivalry, I'll try to distract him. Just make sure nothing happens to Wiress and Beetee."

* * *

_Brutus point of view (Moments before) _

Brutus, Cashmere and Gloss just finished killing three tributes.

Brutus said while cleaning the blood of his spear, "I don't think taking over cornucopia and waiting for this scorpion dude to show up is a smart move."

Gloss responded to Brutus' concern with, "If there is any chance we have against this dude, its right here with all these weapons. Plus I rather it be us that gets recognized for killing the Capitol's tribute than one of them. With me, you, sis, and Enobaria we stand a chance. Out there in the wilderness we are sitting ducks."

Brutus, replied "I guess your plan makes sense."

Cashmere chimed in the conversation reminding them to get back to killing, "Let's hurry up and kill the other tributes. I am going to help Enobaria. Brutus, you see what those four fools are doing over there."

* * *

_Johanna vs. Brutus_

Brutus began walking up to the crates Wiress and Beetee were searching through. Johanna walked up to confront Brutus. They stared at each other. Brutus was trying to see if Johanna had a knife or blade hidden in her pocket, but it looked like she had no weapons on her. Johanna tried to talk Brutus into an armistice, "A big guy like you wouldn't hurt a girl would you."

Brutus wasn't in the mood of negotiating. He hadn't killed since his last time in the games and he was hungry to kill again. He responded with, "Shut that deceitful mouth of yours. I know how you won your games by tricking everyone to think you were weak and pathetic. It won't work this time! Not with me!"

Johanna was getting scared as she couldn't verbally calm down Brutus. She knew fighting him armed with his preferred weapon of a spear would mean almost certain death for her. She then saw a spear coming right towards her….

**BOOM! BOOM!**

* * *

Meanwhile, Finnick finally found a trident. However, he just heard two cannon fires in the sky.

In the background he could faintly hear, "help. Help! Help! HELP!"

That voice sounded familiar and he realized it was Johanna, and she was in trouble.

Finnick realized Brutus had tackled Johanna to the floor. Brutus threw the spear to force Johanna to block with her shield, then followed up with a tackle while she was distracted. Now Brutus was fully mounted on top of her. At the moment they were both unarmed, but Brutus saw searching his back pocket for a blade. He pulled one out and was about to stab her.

Finnick reacted and threw the trident at Brutus. Brutus narrowed dodged the trident and was forced to dismount off of Johanna. Finnick shouted at Brutus. "Hey muscle head! Didn't your mother teach you not to hit a girl," Finnick teased. Their conversation was interrupted…

Beetee yelled "FOUND IT! Let's get out of here. You know where to meet." Blight dropped his shield to reduce his carrying weight and spirited away from cornucopia along with Wiress and Beetee following behind. Johanna took advantage of the distraction to recovered to her feat and followed the three.

Brutus just realized he just let Johanna escape. "Hey bitch, I ain't done with you yet," he complained. He then picked back up his spear and went to pursue those four.

* * *

Cecelia tried to take off with Blight and Johanna, but Enobaria stepped in front of her away. "Where do you think you're going sweetheart." Enobaria taunted.

Katniss saw Cecelia was in trouble and fired an arrow at Enobaria. Enobaria dodged it but was slightly scathed in the right shoulder by the arrow. "You bitch!" Enobaria shouted at Katniss.

However the fighting all came to a halt as everyone heard Peeta yelled "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" All eyes were fixated at the man in a yellow ninja costume as he slowly walked towards cornucopia.

Casear Flickerman commentates to the Capitol audience, "**Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived. Let's hear a round of applause for the Capitol's very own Scorpion!**"


	5. Chapter 5: The Duel

**Chapter 5 - The Duel  
**

**Authors Notes:**

**WARNING this story is about the get very violent, I mean very violent. Common sense tells you this is a Mortal Kombat crossover, so expect violent fatalities…if you cannot handle gore, STOP READING this fanfic NOW and look for K-T stories. **

**As a disclaimer, I take no responsibility on what this does to your psyche and mental well-being!**

* * *

After throwing his trident to save Johanna, Finnick was unarmed. He contemplated retrieving it, but then Peeta reminded him "Forget it, your life is more important. We need to leave now!"

Katniss told Cecelia, "Come with us."

Enobaria got up in protest, "Oh no you don't!" but then the female morphling jumped out and tackled Enobaria. Cecelia used this opportunity to retrieve the food and shelter supplies she dropped and spirited out towards Katniss and Mags. Finnick and Peeta soon followed. Katniss, Peeta, Mags, Finnick, and Cecelia headed off into the western wilderness.

* * *

Remaining at cornucopia was Cashmere, Gloss, Enobaria, the female morphling, and Chaf. Enobaria was too busy engaging the morphling and Chaf. It meant only Cashmere and Gloss could confront Scorpion.

Cashmere: "Damn, that coward Brutus must have ran off. It looks like it's only me and you. Brother, do you think we can beat him?"

Gloss sighed, "If we run off. This guy can kill us any time he wants. I don't want to take that chance. Plus we are careers, just because he's a tribute from the Capitol doesn't mean he's better than us. The Capitol never trained for these games like us."

Cashmere agreed with her brother. Either they fight him now or wait from him to ambush them. As careers they rather take the chance of defeating him in a two on one duel. "Okay let's do this!"

Cashmere began by throwing a throwing knife at Scorpion. It seemed to hit him right in the chest, but Scorpion just vanished.

"What the... I thought I hit him. Did you also see him vanish or am I just seeing things." Cashmere complained

" No I saw the same. Where did he go?" Gloss asked.

"Ugh awww!" Cashmere yelled in pain as Scorpion kicked her in the back of her spine causing some of her rib bones to fracture and break.

"Sis?" Gloss noticed Scorpion behind his sister and he began to engage Scorpion in combat. Scorpion quickly disarmed Gloss's sword forcing him to fight unarmed. Gloss threw a hook punch which Scorpion blocked, and countered with his own. Gloss dodged the counter by stepping back. Scorpion proceeded with a series of kicks, which Gloss avoided. Gloss thought to himself, holy shit this guy throws kicks with ease and must be a real ninja. Not some phony in a ninja outfit.

Cashmere got back up, picked up Gloss's sword and began to assist her brother. She swung a few slashes and Scorpion easily avoided them, while engaging Gloss and Cashmere two on one. She tried stabbing with the sword, but Scorpion evaded it and then threw a counter punch on Gloss's chest.

With Gloss' adrenaline running through him, he absorbed the hit and kept on fighting. Scorpion managed to grab Cashmere's hand as she struck at him with the sword and twisted her wrist, causing her to relinquish the weapon. He countered by kicking her in the chest while fracturing more bones in her rib cage causing her to go down.

But Cashmere was okay and recovered. Gloss told his sister, "I'll keep him distracted. Get more weapons!"

Cashmere obeyed and picked up 10 more throwing knives, katana, and a one-handed axe. "Brother, catch!" shouted his sister.

Cashmere broke free from the melee and retrieved the axe. The siblings were both armed and Scorpion wasn't. And the combat came to a momentary halt.

Gloss was clearly fatigued from fighting. He was taking deep breaths. There were bruises all over his forearm from all the blocked strikes. But now they had the advantage, they were armed Scorpion wasn't. Cashmere said, "I'll take his left you take his right. We can kill him!"

As they both attacked, their weapons collided and made a loud cling as Scorpion caught both their wrist, stepped between them, and flipped the both on their backs. Gloss was dazed as the impact and fatigue had begun to tire him. Cashmere was still alert and proceeded to throw some knives she at him. She threw one which Scorpion deflected with his left wrist, another with his right. Cashmere continued to crawl back and throw more knives as Scorpion continued to deflect them...after throwing all 10 of the knives she retrieved, she was out weapons. It looked liked Scorpion had her on the ground weaponless and cornered.

Gloss awoken and picked up the katana Cashmere had dropped and attempted to stab Scorpion while his attention was on Cashmere. He swung and then **BOOM!**

* * *

Enobaria had killed the female morphiling and was now on her way to slay Chaf, the remaining male tribute. She noticed in the distance the siblings fighting Scorpion and debated what to do. She was thinking whether she should ask Chaf to join the siblings in the fight against Scorpion or finish him off. Enobaria was still wounded from Katniss' arrow and was unsure. In hesitation, Chaf got up and managed to slice Enobaria in the right arm near where she was already wounded from Katniss' arrow. "Ugh!" she cringed in pain, so much for asking him for a truce.

* * *

Cashmere thought Gloss had killed the ninja when she heard the sound of the boom, but was mistaken.

Instead Scorpion preformed a spinning back roundhouse kick to Gloss's face fracturing Gloss's skull, and causing Gloss to miss with the katana stab. The katana was spinning around in mid air and Scorpion elegantly caught the katana. He was about to slice Gloss in half.

"NOOOOOO, Brother!" Cashmere screamed as Scorpion lifted the katana above his head. Cashmere attempted to charge at Scorpion to save her brother.

After hearing Cashmere scream, Scorpion turned around with the katana and without hesitation sliced off Cashmere's left leg off the rest of her body.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Cashmere screamed as blood began to leak from Cashmere's served thigh. She tried to grip the bleeding leg, but couldn't concentrate with the intense pain.

Gloss got up and scolded Scorpion. "You bastard, you will pay for cutting off my sister's …..." Just as Gloss was speaking, Scorpion turned around and shoved the katana down Gloss's throat. Scorpion then spun around holding Gloss' body so Cashmere could see her brother's body with a katana jammed out of his mouth.

* * *

The Capitol audience was enjoying the fight. After seeing Cashmere lose her leg and Gloss with a sword in his mouth. They were shouting **FINISH THEM! FINISH THEM! FINISH THEM!**

And so Scorpion did.

* * *

Scorpion turned the katana so the blade faced the wall of Gloss's stomach. He applied pressure so the tip of the katana pierced through Gloss's stomach from the inside out. Blood began to spew out from Gloss' stomach as the tip of the katana puncherd him from the inside. Scorpion slowly lifted the katana up Gloss's chest and all the way up to his throat, spilling Gloss' blood all over his amputated sister. After freeing the katana from Gloss's throat, Gloss' stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and parts of his lungs and intestines fell out of his body and onto his sister's lap. Cashmere was covered in her brother's blood and was found herself holding his organs. **BOOM!**signaled Gloss's death.

Cashmere began to cry and cringe from the gruesome death of her brother she just witnesses at point blank. "You evil bastard!" Cashmere said as she cried. Cashmere was already in tremendous pain from losing her left leg. Now she was traumatized even more as she was covered in her brother's blood and body parts. It was too much for her psych to withstand, and she demanded a swift death. "Just kill me already and end it!"

Scorpion proceeded to fulfill her wish. He raised the katana and sliced Cashmere's right shoulder down all the way to her abdomen, exposing her fractured rib cage and spine. More blood began to gush out as the slice served the connection between the two bones. Scorpion proceeded to detach her head and spine from the rest of her body causing blood to leak all over the floor. With one hard yank Scorpion lifted Cashmere's severed head and spine with his right hand as it dripped with blood (_Subzero style_).

Caesar Flickerman comments, "**Woah! Now that's what you a bloodbath!** **Scorpion wins! DOUBLE FATALITY!"**

**BOOM!,** Signaling Cashmere's death.

And **BOOM!**

* * *

Meanwhile Brutus had just returned to cornucopia after losing track of Johanna. However that appears to be the least of his worries. He saw Scorpion holding off Cashmere's detached head and spine to the cameras. And said in his mind, "Holy shit, that's fucking brutal!"

He then notices Enobaria readying a throwing knife aimed at Scorpion. Enobaria was attempting to sneakily slay Scorpion while his attention was on the cameras. She throws the knife at him.

Scorpion counters by using Cashmere's head as a shield. The knife lands on Cashmere's forehead between her two eyes. Enobaria stares into Cashmere's twitching eyes while seeing her knife between the two eyes. Enobaria panics and proceeds to run into the western wilderness (_where the male morphling, Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, Mags, and Cecelia ran off to_).

But before Enobaria can flee, Scorpion takes the tail end of Cashmere's spine and spins it around his body like he was a competitor in the hammer throw. He throws Cashmere's served central nervous system so it hits Enobaria in the back of her head as she was fleeing.

Enobaria is knocked down but with adrenaline following through her system she quickly gets back up. She takes a quick glance at what hit her realizing it was Cashmere's severed head that hit her, and runs away in fear from cornucopia. Brutus does the same, except heads southeast.

* * *

_Snow and Quan Chi's point of view, watching the bloodbath_

Quan Chi: "So Mr. President are you impressed?"

Snow euphorically answers with, "Most definitely!" Snow had just witnesses Scorpion's brutality, a brutality demonstrated by no other contestant in the history of the games. He was pleased as this will forever serve as a reminder as what happens to those who even consider defying the Capitol.

"I don't mean to impose, but would it be possible if your servant went after Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mallark next?" Snow suggested with a tone of greed in his voice.

Quan Chi replied, "I don't see why not."


	6. Chapter 6: Safe and Sound?

**Chapter 6 – Safe and Sound?**

**Author's Notes – Contains Catching Fire SPOILERS**

* * *

_Blight, Wiress, Beetee Point of View_

Wiress, Beetee, Johanna, and Blight made their rondevu point the flat plains east of cornucopia. They choose to meet in the plains so they could easy see each other without obstruction of trees, hills, grass, or rocks.

Blight was the first to arrive and he said to Beetee and Wiress, "Glad you old timers made it."

"I need a breather…. where's Johanna and Cecelia?" Beetee questioned.

Blight answered, "I don't know. Brutus was chasing after Johanna. Not sure if Cecelia made it out of the bloodbath."

Wiress was fatigued from the escape and asked, "You got any water. This much running is dehydrating me."

Blight: "Um No. Besides if I did have water, I would have drank it all myself. Wasn't it Cecelia's job to gather our food and shelter needs?"

Wiress stared at Blight with a look of disappointment, "Couldn't you have at least grabbed a backpack on your way out of cornucopia?..."

As they were complaining, Beetee heard footsteps. "Stop talking I hear footsteps. Get down, let's see who it is." Beetee warned them.

It was Johanna. She was catching up to the party after having to out run Brutus' pursuit of her.

Beetee whispered, "Its Johanna." Beetee got out of hiding and signaled to Johanna, "Over here! You made it."

Blight reacted and grabbed him down, "Be careful! Brutus could still be following her." When Johanna rejoined the three, Blight pulled out a small pocket knife and pointed it at her.

Blight began interrogating Johanna, "Were you followed?"

Wiress was shocked to see Blight being so aggressive and told Blight, "Dude calm down. She's our ally." Wiress then put her hand over Blight's hand to cover the knife he was pointing at Johanna.

Johanna was catching her breathe and said, "I was being chased by Brutus, but I think I lost him. And one more thing..."

Johanna then slapped blight across his face. "You could have given me that knife before sending me out to fight Brutus, or at least threw it at him when he was about to kill me," Johanna ranted.

Blight felt kind of embarrassed for not being more useful. "Uh I am sorry, but at least you're still alive. I'll make it up to you later," Blight chuckled.

Johanna demanded, "You can start by giving me some water."

Blight answered, "Uh uh… funny we were kind of expecting Cecelia to take care of that for us."

They all sighed…

Wiress: "Just great! We got the wire we need to escape, but we have no supplies and no weapons except a small pocket knife!"

Beetee: "I guess we should take a detour and head into the nearby forest to scavenge what we can."

They all took a moment to let the desperation sink in.

Johanna: "Let's remember to keep alert for the careers and that Scorpion fellow. If you see them do not engage them! Remember we got no weapons."

Blight: "Good thinking, let's get to it then."

* * *

_Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, Mags, and Cecelia Point of View_

It was about to get to night time. They were in the woods next to a nearby lake, they inventoried their supplies and begun making preparations to rest for the night.

Peeta: "Looks like we have enough food to last us 2 days. We can probably get some rest here. But let's, wait after the gamemakers project the faces of the fallen tributes in the sky." They all agreed.

Mags said to Katniss, "Looks like you're the only one with a weapon. Sorry to ask for this but can you stay on guard for the night."

Finnick said sarcastically, "Not if I can help." Finnick pulled out a tree branch that looked sharp enough to be a cheap imitation spear. They all laugh at it.

Mags: "That's the spirit. One day you learn how to make a trident out of anything."

Finnick: "Maybe not as much as well as how you make fish hooks."

They were safe and sound for the night and began to chit chat exchanging life stories. Finnick joked about all the different woman Snow prostituted him into. Then said sarcastically, imagine how many patrons will Snow have lined up for us if one of us actually manages to win this thing.

Peeta and Katniss didn't find Finnick's joke funny. Katniss gave a mean glared at Finnick for making her consider the thought of being forced into prostitution by Snow.

Cecelia tried to break up the tension by throwing in her two cents, "I am kind of embarrassed to admit that's how I met my husband, Larry. Larry was the son of a wealthy Capitol aristocrat who developed a crush on me watching me play the games. When he learned of what Snow had planned for me after I won the games, he spent a large portion of his family fortune buying me out and saving from a life of Snow's prostitution. He didn't ask me to stay and be his slave after spending most of his wealth on my freedom. To my surprise he let me go; no strings attached… It wasn't until about 6 years after that I realized Larry often made donations to the families of fallen tributes as condolences that I realized how kind hearted he was. I eventually married him and he gave me three beautiful children. Every year we would visit the families of slain tributes to give them condolences."

After listening to Cecelia's sob story, Katniss and Peeta's heart melted after learning that there are still some really good people in the Capitol. They even forgot about Finnick's crude remarks. However, Mags wasn't listening as she fell asleep.

A little while later, they saw the faces of fallen tributes flashing brightly in the sky. Finnick was surprised to learn Gloss and Cashmere had been eliminated so early, and began to think if it was because of that Scorpion guy. Cecelia was relieved to know Johanna , Blight, Wiress and Beetee were still alive. Then it occurred to her to tell Katniss and Peeta about how they plan on escaping and joining district 13 in the rebellion.

Cecelia: "Oh before I forget, we have a plan on escaping the arena."

Finnick chimed in, "Wait… Haymich brought you into the plan as well?"

Cecelia answered, "Yes. Johanna, Blight, Wiress, and Beetee are working on our escape plan as we speak."

Katniss was kind of surprised and angry, and asked, "Um, why wasn't I filled in on this?"

Finnick was nervous and answered her question with, "Well we kind of though... You would have had difficulty playing dead and all …to remove our trackers when the time came. But I guess now the cats out of the bag..."

"Oh snap!" Cecelia realized, she was supposed to provide Wiress, Beetee, Johanna, and Blight with food and shelter supplies. But they ended up getting separated. And now they might now be starving.

Katniss attempted to comfort her by saying, "Don't worry if they are in trouble I am sure the sponsors would provide them with supplies."

Cecelia realized, "Yeah I guess I am just a little nervous. Anyways we were supposed to hack the forcefield generator at the old warehouse in the ruined city area, its north of the cornucopia. There's supposed to be a maintenance wire inside the building the maintenance staff uses to power the forcefield. It's easiest to get there going east into the plains, and then heading northeast. From where we are, we can get there too. It's fastest if we go northwest from here passing through some steep hills…. It will require some climbing though."

Katniss took in the info then asked, "So about me needing to play dead..."

Finnick was kind of embarrassed that she found out and said, "Oh, Johanna was suppose to stab you …then leave you unconscious while you awaken and chase after us in a mad furry while we kidnap your future husband… It was kind of a cruel prank me and Johanna wanted to pull on you."

Katniss rolled her eyes around her head, thinking my god these pranksters. However, after Peeta heard Finnick's answer, he began sobbing.

Katniss asked Peeta, "Cheer up, what's wrong?"

Peeta: "Do you guys even consider how cruel that is... if I found out Katniss died…no, I don't even want to go there." Katniss attempted to comfort Peeta by giving him a hug.

Katniss said to Peeta, "Don't cry, I am here." Katniss felt kind of awkward with Peeta grasping onto her closely. She cared for Peeta, but didn't really know how much he really cared about her. Peeta's concern for her was more than just a rouse to appease the Capitol, it was genuine. Inside, Katniss felt slightly conflicted. Katniss didn't really love Peeta as much as he loved her, but didn't want to break Peeta's heart by telling him about how she really felt about him. Soon Peeta, fell asleep in her arms. Cecelia and Finnick smiled at the couple, and Katniss smiled back. Cecelia then retired for the night, while Katniss and Finnick stayed awake on guard.

It was about 2 hours in; till Finnick was overwhelmed by fatigue and he fell asleep. And an hour latter Katniss too fell asleep.

Fog began to roll in, and 2 hours later an apparently nearby male voice screamed, "Aaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhh!"

**BOOM!**


	7. Chapter 7: Keep Your Eyes Open

**Chapter 7 - Keep Your Eyes Open**

Katniss yelled: "Peeta no, Peeta NO, Peeta Noooooooo!" As she saw him scrambling and screaming in pain as he was lit on fire.

_Boom!_

Then she heard, Caesar Fickerman's voice fill up the arena as he said, "Let's have a round of applause for the man on fire. And soon to be joining him, Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire."

Out of nowhere it appeared Scorpion, now with a skull for a head, began to torch Katniss setting her on fire...

"Katniss, wake up! Katniss wake up! We have to get out of here now!" Peeta yelled as her shook her in her sleep.

* * *

Katniss was having a nightmare, as she was awaken she felt embarrassed that she was yelling Peeta's name but had no time to contemplate it.

Finnick: "Another tribute just died, I swore I heard a male voice in this distance scream before the cannons signaled his death."

Peeta: "We have to stay close. We can barely see anything in this fog."

The five of them quickly left the camp leaving behind most of the supplies as they attempted to navigate their way out of the fog. Mags managed to retrieve a compass at cornucopia and took it out to navigate the party in the thick fog.

Katniss and Finnick were the party's only defense. Katniss drew her bow and arrow, while Finnick grasped tightly to his tree branch. Finnick, armed with his weapon, cautiously navigated the party through the fog as he followed directions from Mags with her compass in hand. While Katniss secured the party's rear with her bow half drawn. Suddenly Cecelia saw a glimpse of a man wearing a yellow ninja mask. "**It's Scorpion. Run**!" screamed Cecelia.

In panic the 5 tributes split and ran separate ways. They lost track of each other in the fog. Mags was the slowest in the group, as her age limited her ability to run. As she was running she tripped on something.

Mags recovered and attempted to investigate what caused her to fall. She examined what appeared to be the severed right arm of another tribute. Mags continued to examined the floor and also found his severed left arm. And next to that she found his decapitated head, which was sliced in-two pieces exposing his brain. Mags was terrified by the discovery and her body had difficulty processing the anxiety.

As Mags looked up she stared into the pale soulless eyes of Scorpion himself. Mags screamed in terror, "Aaaaaawwwwwweeeeeee!"

Finnick could hear in the distant Mags scream, but could not see her as the fog was too thick. "Mags?" Finnick yelled as he attempted to locate his lost ally.

Finnick then noticed a figure in the fog and sneakily swung at it with his tree branch as though he was swinging a baseball bat. "Ow, watch it!" a female voice complained.

Finnick had realized he had just accidentally swung and hit Cecelia in her back. She was okay, but felt bruised from the attack. "My god, I am so sorry," Finnick said as he apologized.

Cecelia got up and said, "It's okay we need to find the others." The two of them continued to search for Mags, Katniss, and Peeta. They walked slowly in the fog keeping their eyes open for either their allies or Scorpion.

Eventually, they stumble across Mags shivering in pain. Mags was having a heart attack as she was reeling in terror from witnessing the body parts of the butchered male morphling and from staring straight into Scorpion's eyes. "Let me try CPR, Cecelia take the branch and cover me." Finnick commanded.

"Come on don't die on me!" Finnick pleaded as her administered CPR on Mags.

"Mags, we promised to make it out together don't leave me!" Finnick said as his CPR was having no effect.

It was no use. Mags could not be saved. **BOOM!** The cannon fire filled the arena as Finnick and Cecelia sobbed in tears.

After taking a moment to mourn Mag's death, Cecelia reminded Finnick, "Sorry for your loss, but Mags wouldn't want us to die grieving over her death. We still need to get out of here and find Peeta and Katniss." Cecelia retrieved the compass Mags had dropped on the floor and ordered Finnick, "Follow me."

Finnick halfheartedly agreed.

* * *

"Mags? Finnick? Peeta? Cecelia?" Katniss yelled as she was navigating through the fog with her bow drawn. Katniss was on the lookout alert for her lost allies and Scorpion. Her nervousness showed as she had trouble firmly gripping her bow in the thick fog.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Katniss heard from the distance. She knew that was Peeta's voice and she began rushing towards it.

Katniss responded to his screaming, "Peeta I am coming." As she ran towards Peeta's scream, she found Peeta kneeling on the ground with his hands covering his head. "I am here you're safe..." But before she finished speaking, she saw what appeared to be Scorpion and nervously shot an arrow at the apparition. The arrow went through the fog only to hit dirt on the floor. She then looked around and saw another apparition of Scorpion and fired only to have it repeat the same result.

After wasting enough arrows, she grabbed Peeta's hand and told him, "Get up! We're getting out of here."

And the two of them began running through the heavy fog.

Katniss clinched her bow in one hand and Peeta's hand in the other as she directed the way out. Upon running with Peeta, she noticed a trail of blood on the floor, but had no time to dwell on who it belonged to. She continued running lost in the fog, and heard a female voice say to her, "Its payback time bitch!"

Katniss paused and quickly fired an arrow in that direction; unsure of whether or not it hit something. After this momentary distraction, she re-grabbed Peeta's hand and continued rummaging through the fog.

* * *

_(Meanwhile the story explaining the trail of blood...)_

Cecelia and Finnick continued their escape. As they continued northeast towards the hills that would lead them to the ruined city, the both of them heard a female voice say, "Got you now sweetheart."

Cecelia's face was met with Enobaria's fist, causing Cecelia to fall on the floor. In Cecelia's defense, Finnick pointed the sharp end of the tree branch at Enobaria and attempted to stab her with it. However, Enobaria evaded the attack, and retaliated by slashing Finnick in the leg with a knife.

Both Finnick and Enobaria were bleeding. In the bloodbath Enobaria was still wounded by Katniss arrow and Chaf's knife back from the bloodbath. Now Finnick was wounded in the leg from Enobaria. Blood dripped from Enobaria's shoulder and arm and from Finnick's leg.

They both stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a mistake. However, this stare down was interrupted as Cecelia recovered to tripped Enobaria on the floor.

Seeing an opportunity, Finnick threw his makeshift spear at her.

Enobaria narrowly evaded it. And after almost being killed, Enobaria ran off into the fog to hopefully perform another surprise attack.

"I am fine, let's go!" said Finnick as he looked at Cecelia. Finnick recovered his trusty spear like tree-branch and the continued their escape.

As they continued to run, they heard the sound of footsteps in the fog, but didn't know who it was. Did it belong to Enobaria, Scorpion, Peeta, or Katniss? Finnick didn't want to take chance of being ambushed again so he threw his weapon into the direction of the footsteps.

* * *

An "Ugh!" sound came from a female voice.

Finnick was nervous as he didn't know who he just hit. Was it Enobaria or was it Katniss. It wasn't until a male voice cleared the mystery.

"Katniss, NO. Please, NO. DON'T DIE, please no! I love you..." Peeta sobbed.

After hearing Peeta cry in grief, Cecelia and Finnick came spiriting towards his direction.


	8. Chapter 8: The Fog of War

**Chapter 8: The Fog of War**

**Authors Notes: Anatomy lesson. Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

They saw Katniss lying on the ground with the tree branch sticking out of her right chest. Over her body was Peeta sobbing in tears. As Cecelia and Finnick approached, Peeta turned his attention towards Finnick.

In a flick of rage Peeta shoved Finnick and said, "You fucking bastard! How could you!"

Finnick was overwhelmed with grief and chose not to fight back as Peeta began getting more and more aggressive. In a way, Finnick felt like he failed; 1st Mags, now Katniss.

Before, Peeta's aggression escalated, Cecelia intervened: "There's no time for fighting right now. Scorpion and Enobaria are right behind us..."

Then they heard Katniss coughed. As they heard it, the three of them rushed to her side. "Katniss, can you hear me." Peeta asked desperately.

Katniss nodded but did not have the energy to speak. Upon further examination of Katniss' wound, Cecelia noticed the wound wasn't fatal and Katniss was still barely alive. Peeta then ripped part of his shirt using it as a bandage to stop the bleeding from her chest. It looked like she would survive as long as she received medical treatment...

"I am going to keep you safe." Peeta said as he carried Katniss' wounded body.

"Come on let's get out of here, I'll lead the way." Cecelia directed with the compass.

* * *

_(Meanwhile back in the fog)_

Enobaria was limping as she was lost on where she was. Out of some stroke of misfortune, Enobaria took an arrow in the knee from Katniss' shot in the fog. Her accumulated wounds made her slow and lost as she was stumbling in the heavy fog.

She thought to herself, "Shit why couldn't I stay quite?" Apparently her training as a career handicapped her in the element of surprise. As a career, Enobaria was familiar in confronting easy prey who ran scared from her, and wasn't trained to wait in the shadows and strike.

The day couldn't have gotten worst, until she collide with a another person in the fog. Enobaria just realized she just bumped into the man who ripped out Cashmere's head like a trophy. **Scorpion stood right next to her.**

Enobaria was scared, as she didn't expect him to still be following her from cornucopia. In fear she dropped the knife she used to slash Finnick with, and she immediately tried scrabbling on the floor looking for the weapon. In a frenzied panic, she picked up a tiny thin tree branch.

She attempted to swing with the branch, but Scorpion parried the attack causing Enobaria's ulna and radius (bones in the forearm) to fracture.

Scorpion then karate chopped the same arm he had just fractured. And as a result, Enobaria's ulna and radius snapped like a twig. Her forearm was now loosely dangling on her skin. Enobaria screamed, "Aaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhh!" in tremendous pain.

Enobaria could not move her left hand as it was almost detached from her body. Nor could she attempt to flee as she was wounded in by the arrow in the knee. Her only weapon she had remaining was to fight back using her sharp metal teeth. Teeth which she had surgically inserted due to the aftermath of her last Hunger Games.

In desperation Enobaria decided to lunge at Scorpion to bite him with her teeth. That decision would be her last mistake...

Scorpion easily countered her attack with a hard right hook causing the ramus and mandible body of her jaw to crackle (x-ray style). This punch hurt a lot, so much Enobaria tried to scream. But as she tried to scream, she realized she wasn't making any noise. This was because Scorpion had punched her so hard in the jaw. Like her forearm, her jaw was dangling from the rest of her head only because of her skin attaching the left mandibular condyle (left end of the jawbone) to the rest of her head. And unknown to Enobaria, even her tongue flew out of her mouth from the impact of the punch.

* * *

The Capitol enjoyed watching Scorpion torment the tributes. Now Enobaria was about to meet her death. The audience was furiously yelling at their monitors "**FINSIH HER! FINSIH HER! FINSIH HER!**"

And so Scorpion fulfilled their desire

* * *

Scorpion proceeded to rip out Enobaria's jaw, separating her mandiable (jawbone) from the rest of her head. As she felt the agonizing tug on the piece of skin connecting her head to her loosely dangling mandibular condyle (left end of her jaw), she wanted to again scream but without a mouth and tongue she could only make a hissing noise.

Upon removing Enobaria's jaw Scorpion grip it like a horseshoe shaped pickaxe and proceeded to stab Enobaria with mandibular condyle (the tail end) of her own jaw. Scorpion viciously stabbed the mandibular condyle of her detached jawbone into her right eye.

Scorpion's attack shoved her detached mandibular condyle (tail end of jawbone) so deep it pierced straight into the hypothalamus of her brain. Within seconds, Enobaria had died.

**BOOM!**

Panem's last memory of Enobaria was seeing her detached mandible (jawbone) jammed into her right eye.

* * *

Caesar Flickerman: "Whoa! Another merciless kill by Scorpion. Looks like she bit more than she could see. The Capitol, yet wins again!"

* * *

_(Meanwhile back in snow's personal chambers)_

Snow: "Another marvelous execution by that servant of yours. I will admit I am kind of disappointed about Ms. Everdeen's fate. I especially want her demise to be at the hand of the Capitol, not some district 4 playboy."

Quan Chi: "So what do you intend to do?"

Snow: "Of course the same thing I've been doing for all these years. Give them a little bit of hope."


	9. Chapter 9: Give Them Hope

**Chapter 9 - Give Them Hope**

It was the afternoon of Day 2

Blight, Johanna, Wiress and Beetee were not able to find food and water. The four were desperate. Sweat poured down their face from the blistering heat. They were hungry and were about willing to eat anything.

Johanna and Blight sat under a tree to hide from the sun's rays. But they could barely move their bodies as the lack of water and food had drained them.

Beetee had fallen asleep after hopelessly searching for food and water. And across from him was Wiress who was barely awake.

The heat had hampered Wiress' ability to properly think. She grabbed a couple of nearby berries, while sitting still.

After hearing the ruffling of grass, Beetee woke up and yelled, "Wiress, NOOOOOO!". But it was too late, Wiress had ate the poisonous nightlock berries and died momentarily.

**BOOM!**

Upon hearing the boom along with Beetee's screaming. Johanna and Blight mustered the little energy they had left to head towards Beetee and Wiress. They noticed Wiress' dead body as Beetee and Johanna began to shed a tear.

Blight reacted in frustration. "Fuck,'" he cursed at himself. "If only I were to have taken more supplies at cornucopia, and wasn't such a coward!"

Johanna then found a camera and pleaded for sponsors, "Please send food, water, medicine."

* * *

Meanwhile Finnick, Cecelia, Katniss and Peeta were taking a rest as they began taking their ascent into the hills leading them to the ruined city area. Katniss was fading in and out of consciousness, as Peeta carried her for most of the journey. She still wasn't able to muster the energy to speak.

Finnick was slow hiking through the terrain as the wound left by Enobaria began taking its toll on him.

* * *

After hours of running and climbing they took refuge in a cave in the hills.

"Damn it! We'll never make it out of her alive." Finnick complained. Cecelia put her hands over Finnick's shoulders hoping to ease his frustration.

As for Peeta, he rested Katniss on the floor hoping she would awaken. Sweat poured down Katniss' face, and her forehead was burning hot. It appeared, Katniss had gotten an infection from the incapacitating wound.

At times he would say to her unconscious body, "I wish wasn't so pathetic, "I should have taken the hit," "You're the toughest girl I know"... all to no avail.

Finally, when Peeta began sing, it reminded Katniss of her sister Prim, and she awoke to speak for the first time since the incident.

Katniss was dazed and hallucinating. The signing had caused her to mistaken Peeta for Prim. But Peeta could not tell what was going through Katniss' head.

"Would you forgive me?" Katniss whispered into Peeta's ear.

Peeta nodded and responded by saying, "yes, for anything."

After hearing those words, Katniss felt she could die without regrets and feel back into a slumber. Peeta cried, "NO!, Please, stay with me. We were suppose to get married... have a family together..." Tears fell from Peeta's face as he grasped Katniss's hand.

Finnick watched from a distance, and occasionally sunk his head down still feeling responsible.

The three of them heard a _boom_ realizing another tribute had just died.

"Kat..." Finnick articulated in response to the canon fire.

Cecelia and Finnick came rushing towards Katniss as Peeta checked if Katniss still had a pulse... and she did. Peeta was relieved to know Katniss was still alive. However, Finnick and Cecelia looked at each other and had a bad feeling Johanna, Blight, Wiress and Beetee wasn't as safe as expected.

After letting the chilling reality sink in, Cecelia said softly, "Forgive me Larry," and proceeded to exit the cave. Before leaving, she looked Finnick in the eyes said tearfully as if it were her last words, "I need to do this, don't stop me."

* * *

Cecelia walked for hours backed where they had escape from. Her backtracking eventually led to her encountering Scorpion.

Scorpion stared into Cecelia's tear-filled eyes, but pity didn't exist in his vocabulary...

"GET OVER HERE!" Scorpion yelled as her launched a kunai attached to a chain.

Cecelia didn't move as the kunai pierced right through her left leg. But then Cecelia screamed as it pierced through her and blood dripped from the wound. While she was screaming, Scorpion yelled "GET OVER HERE!" again launching another kunai into her right arm.

Scorpion repeated this process until each of her limbs where pierced and ensnared with chains attached to kunais. For the last kunai Scorpion launched it so it pierced under and around her collar bone, then wrapped around her neck, so that the chain attached to the kunai was strangling her.

Scorpion the tied each of the chains attached to her limbs and head around sturdy tree branches. He constructed them in a way so that one tug from a single conjoining chain would be able to tear apart all of Cecelia's limbs from her body at once.

While still screaming in pain, Scorpion walked up to a bounded Cecelia in chains. He proceeded to chop her left and right shoulders so the bones connecting her arms to her torso were broken. Upon doing so Cecelia let out a loud "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!", so loud even Finnick and Peeta could hear her yell from their cave.

Next Scorpion proceeded to kick her in the left and right hip joint of the pelvis, so that the legs were loose and easy to pull apart. And again Cecelia yelled, "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" in agonizing pain.

Scorpion was about to give Cecelia an excruciating death. As Scorpion walked back to retrieve the chain ensnaring all of her limbs and head, she stared into a camera and begged, "People of Panem, Please Help Us!"

To **finish her**, Scorpion picked up the master conjoining chain and yanked so it hard, it tore apart all of Cecelia's limbs from her torso with blood gushing out each of the limbs as though they were geysers. The tug also resulted in her head to fly off into the horizon spewing with blood.

**BOOM!**

* * *

Even Caesar Fickerman paused momentary at Cecelia's death. But he regained his composure and told the audience, "Uh, Scorpion wins Flawless Victory!...the Capitol wins yet again!" In hopes it would re-energize the crowd.

The Capitol was mixed reactions having seen Cecelia's death. Some were resisting not to vomit their lunch. Some, like Effie, felt she was too kind of a person to deserve such a gruesome death and shed tears. While others cheered and applauded her demise.

As for the Districts, they cringed at the sight of witnessing all her limbs getting pulled off at once. Most of the districts liked Cecelia and Larry for they would annually make donations expressing condolences to the families of fallen tributes. And now this would be their last memory of such a kindhearted woman.

* * *

Larry had to cover the eyes of their three children as Cecelia and her limbs were being torn apart. Her children shouted, "Mommy, mommy!" as they saw Scorpion's kunai pierced her soft flesh.

Larry took a moment to let his wife's death sink in. And afterwards, Larry said to the television set, "Scorpion! You're going to fucking pay!"

Larry proceeded to call everyone he and his family knew to rally sponsorships for the remaining tributes. Phone calls amassed and money began pouring in for sponsorships. And in the Districts, everyone began donating what little they had to help the remaining tributes. It was as though everyone wanted to see the tributes unite to slay the evil Scorpion.

This was the largest pool of money the games had ever received in sponsorship, and it caught Snow's attention.

* * *

Quan Chi asked Snow, "Is all going to plan?"

Before answering, snow had a puzzled look on his face. In one sense he was glad that he had given the Districts hope they could defeat Scorpion, but at the same time he was worried such demonstration of violence would cause unity and ignite rebellion. Snow began to question his lifelong philosophy. It appeared Snow could not create fear without creating hope. Too much fear was creating too much hope. But now that Snow has allowed the games to create so much hope, he struggle whether it was best for Scorpion to tone down the violence or to continue his initial plan of brutally slaughtering the tributes.

Snow though about it more deeply and came to his conclusion on what to do. He reminisced on how the games came about because of the first rebellion, and decided based on that precedent the games was punishment for their insurrection, and these violent fatalities are punishment for who plan to rebel against the Capitol.

After taking about five minutes to contemplate an answer to Quan Chi's question, Snow answered, "No, all is well. Continue."

"As you wish!" echoed Quan Chi with a menacing grin.

* * *

About an half hour after hearing the canon fire indicating Cecelia's death, the tributes heard chimes... thousands of chimes. Finnick and Peeta peaked outside of their cave to see the sky littered with thousands sponsorship parachutes.

Blight, Johanna, and Beetee noticed the same as they stared into the sky.

And so did Brutus as he emerged from his hiding spot.


	10. Chapter 10: Arise

**Chapter 10 - Arise**

Johanna, Blight, and Beetee heard chimes, hundreds of chimes. They tilted their heads towards the sky seeing parachutes containing their sponsorship gifts.

"The people heard us, we are saved," Johanna commented.

"If only the gifts came sooner, Wiress would still be with us," Beetee added.

As the gifts landed the trio immediately began scavenging for food. To their amazement they found an entire buffet of food arrived. For food the trio received a whole watermelon, several turkey sandwiches, carrots and lettuce, barbeque ribs, two whole roasted chickens, a can of peanuts, and various canned goods for the journey ahead. For refreshments they received milk, energy drinks, and several canteens of water. The three stuffed their stomachs by devouring the watermelon, turkey sandwiches, and roasted chickens. They also quickly depleted their milk supply and even drank half of the water supply.

After devouring their meal Beetee began inventorying the rest of the gifts, while Johanna and Blight began packing whatever they could into the backpacks the received as gifts.

Blight began a roll call of their supplies, "Binoculars, compass, flare gun, hand axe..."

"Mine!" shouted Johanna as she claimed the weapon before Blight could claim it.

Beetee continued his roll call "A lance..."

"I'll claim that," answered Blight.

Beetee continued, "Matches, swiss army knife, and oooooOOOO 3 landmines."

They deciding how to distribute the weight and began to formulate a strategy to move onwards. Beetee made the suggestion, "Blight since you got the long rang weapon you lead."

"Wait why is it that I have to lead and be the first one to be in danger," Blight objected.

Johanna teased Blight by telling him, "Aside from you having the long range weapon, how about that's how you can pay me back for almost getting me killed at Cornucopia with Brutus, and come on you are a guy, have some balls."

Blight chuckled, "Okay you had your fair share of near death experiences, I guess it's only fair I'll have mines. And Beetee I going to assume you will be navigating with the compass and binoculars, just please don't get me killed by directing me into say... an electric forcefield. I had a bad dream that was how I died in these games."

"Correct," Beetee responded.

Blight then had a concerned look on his face.

"Sorry, I meant you are correct that I'll navigate us through the arena and don't worry I'll be sure not to direct you into a trap," Beetee said to clarify himself.

"That must make me the caboose, don't worry I got our backs covered," chimed Johanna

Beetee continued with the plan, "I'll hang onto the swiss army knife and flare gun in case I run into any trouble. And let me show you two how to use these landmines, just in case you need to use them and I am not around."

After Beetee taught Johanna and Blight how to use the landmines, the trio laid Wiress to rest and said their farewells to her. They all held back their tears knowing death constantly surrounds them as they head towards the path to the abandon city ruins.

* * *

_Snow and Quan Chi POV_

"With all these gifts I'm quite tempted to send one in myself," Snow remarked as the he observed the monitor.

Quan Chi joined in, "So am I. How about we both send in some gifts to... shake things up a bit. Let's have some fun while we are at it."

Snow responded with a menacing laugh as he patted Quan Chi on the shoulder, "Hahahaha, I like the way you think. It's not fair that Scorpion gets to have all the fun."

Snow proceeded to write his sponsorship note and instructions to the gamemaster regarding his gift. In the meantime Quan Chi used his sorcery to conjure up a gift in a box which he requested be sent in the arena.


	11. Chapter 11: Mocking The Mocking Jay

**Chapter 11 - Mocking The Mocking Jay**

Finnick stared towards as the gifts as they flooded into the cave. He was hoping all of this was worth Cecelia's life. He was hoping there would be a gift that would save Katniss, a gift that would redeem him for his mistakes.

Peeta scrambled through the gifts expecting to find Katniss' much needed medicine. Peeta found various food items ranging from apples, canned soup, bread loafs, and various canned goods. After the gifts stopped coming in Finnick began to assist Peeta with his frantic search. Finnick noticed he had received a trident, like in his last game, but he had no time to be nostalgic. Katniss was the mocking jay and her survival was in jeopardy. After tearing through gifts they finally found Katniss' medicine.

In the medicine contained a note.  
_"Please save my sister. Katniss please forgive Finnick it was an accident."_  
-With love, Prim

Peeta began applying the medicine over Katniss wounded, and feed her the liquid portion of the medicine.

For now there was little much Peeta and Finnick could do except wait for the medicine to take effect. In the meantime they began to munch on the food supplies they received. Specifically, Peeta noticed the bread loafs and began to reflect on how he first met Katniss outside his parent's shop starving alone in the rain. Then suddenly Katniss awakened...

* * *

Katniss awakened from her slumber and immediately tackled Finnick to the ground, just as Finnick was just about to bite into his fourth apple. Finnick feel to the ground, and Katniss mounted him. She began punching Finnick and then strangled him as she yelled, "You fucking bastard, you traitor, I trusted you. Haymitch warned me about the possibility of betrayal, and I suspected you were a traitor. But once we learned about Scorpion, he told me right before the games that I needed to trust you and I did. How fucking naive was I to ignore my intuition. I better finish you before you kill me."

"Katniss calm down." Peeta said was he watched Katniss enraged.

Finnick then broke free of Katniss choke, performed a hip escape and reversed the full mount on Katniss. Finnick then reached for the trident and pointed the tip at Katniss' face.

Katniss reacted by grabbing on to it expecting Finnick to stab her, but felt no resistance from the trident.

Finnick responded, "If I wanted you dead, I'll would have killed you and Peeta while you were injured. Cecelia gave her life to save you, have some god damn respect!"

Finnick then dismounted Katniss, threw the trident on the floor, and said, "Sorry for the threatening gesture, it's a habit from being a career."

Katniss then calmed down and asked, "Where's Mags and Cecelia? What happened to them?"

Peeta moved towards Katniss and answered, "It's a long story..."

"Mags was dying from shock when I found her, and Cecelia went back to presumably confront Scorpion. Her death is the reason why we got so many sponsorship gifts and why your still alive." Finnick interrupted.

"There's a note from Prim, it came with your medicine." Peeta said as he handed over the note.

Katniss snagged it from Peeta's hand and read it. "Well if Prim says I should forgive you, then I will," Katniss responded.

The tension between Katniss and Finnick settled. Katniss began feasting on the food supplies, while Finnick and Peeta began organizing the mess of sponsorship gifts.

"Here are some bandages." Peeta said towards Katniss as he found them.

Katniss began applying the bandages around the wound, and as she was unrolling the bandages a note slipped out. She picked up the note and it read:

_"May you enjoy your gifts while they lasted. And thanks for bankrupting the districts. With the amount of money they poured in to save you, they no longer have any money left to fund their rebellion."_  
- Cornelius Snow

"Shit!" Katniss reacted in frustration. Katniss shared the note with Finnick and Peeta, and they knew the gifts didn't come without a high price. The districts spent so much money on the gifts, so much that it jeopardized the funding efforts for the rebellion. Like always, Snow once again had the upperhand.

Peeta broken the silence and said, "Everyone gave up so much just to save us. We can't let their efforts go in vain. We need to escape and get out of here before Scorpion finishes us."

Katniss began contemplating what Peeta said, something didn't make sense. She expressed her confusion, "It doesn't make sense. By now Snow knows we are planning to escape. Why isn't he sending in the peacekeepers right now to stop the games. Second, I swore I saw Scorpion back there in the fog. If he wanted us dead we would already been dead. What the heck does Snow have planned for us?"

Finnick gave in his opinion on the matter, "Well my guess is the fate of the rebellion lies with us, by giving us the illusion we can escape only to have Scorpion slaughter us would completely demoralized the rebellion. Now that the districts has invested so much into our survival what better message would it send that no matter how hard you fight, the Capitol cannot be defeated."

Katniss and Peeta took a moment to contemplate Finnick's reasoning.

Finnick continued speaking, "I don't mean to interrupt but we've been hiding in this cave for four days already. With Cecelia's death and these gifts, we have more of a purpose to escape alive. Finish up and let's get moving.

After taking time to sort through the gifts Katniss found she received a new bow and a quiver of arrows. She took a few practice shots at Snow's note she pinned to the wall of the cave to readjust to her injury. After making a couple of practice shots, she was ready to fight on.

Peeta finished up packing the supplies into the backpacks, and the party was ready to continue their journey. To transverse through the hills the trio equipped climbing gear, they received as a sponsorship gift, to assist them through the hills and into the abandoned city ruins.

* * *

_Meanwhile the story of Quan Chi's gift_

The trauma of witnessing Cashmere's severed head and spine being used as a shield then as a weapon to hit Enobaria made Brutus afraid, afraid to be a career, and afraid to confront Scorpion.

When Brutus saw the sky flooded with gifts he saw to check what he was going to get. Like the others he got the typical food supplies. He even got a sharp sword with a note that read:

_"Show the Panem the might of District 2. Honor us by slaying Scorpion"_  
- District 2

Brutus reflected on the note wondering if he still had the warrior spirit to confront Scorpion. He did but his subconscious kept warning him fighting Scorpion would be suicide. Deep down Brutus wanted to demonstrate to the world that he was the best tribute to ever set foot in the games, and slaying the Capitol's tribute definitely would solidify his legacy. He considered if such a recognition was worth dying for, and it was. For Brutus the games was the bane of his existence, but Brutus is smart enough to know Scorpion's fighting skills is way above his own.

However, Brutus noticed one more gift headed towards his way. It landed and he opened it up eager to see what it was. It was a blue ninja mask much like Scorpion's, and it was felt very cold.

It also contained a note:

_"If your willing to offer your soul for the power to defeat Scorpion,  
then wear the mask."_  
- Quan Chi

For Brutus the eternal glory off Scorpion's slayer was worth more than life itself. It was worth his soul. Brutus put on the mask and felt sorcery flow through his body. He saw visions of the Lin kuei. His visions then focused in on one particular warrior with the power to freeze. Brutus' visions revealed to him he too was a distant descendent of the cryomancers, and lost within his blood contained the power to freeze. Through the sorcery bestowed by the mask, Brutus had acquired the power of Sub-zero.


	12. Chapter 12: Ruined

**Chapter 12 - Ruined**

After a day and a half of traversing through the hills Katniss, Peeta and Finnick finally set foot into the ruined city arena. The arena itself looked like it was hit by a nuclear explosion long ago. Buildings were no longer structures, but half demolished remains of civilization. The buildings were missing walls, allowing the trio to see the insides of rubble that filled them.

As the trio observed the ground they could see it was littered with broken pieces of concrete fallen off from the buildings, smashed brick, pebbles, steel rods, stray tires, and tipped over shopping carts. The trio was walking through a stage designed to mimic the ruins of civilization, the ruins of a civilization before the formation of the Capitol and it's districts, the ruins of a civilization before the world had ended.

Except for the three of them the arena was devoid of human life. Despite being devoid of human life, it was filled with animal scavengers. Occasionally they could see the shadows birds hovering from the desolate sky, or hear the sound of metal cans tumbling over due to small animals moving in the distance. A city that would have been occupied by people became a ghetto for scavenging animals.

The sight of vultures feeding on the dead carcasses of their kin sent chills through them. It made them consider the possibility of them being their next meal. In the distance the party could see wolves feasting on a dead raccoon. In a different direction they saw birds feasting on the flesh of a dead wolf. But there was one discovery that shocked the three the most, that was witnessing jabberjays feed on a human head.

The human head that the jabberjays were picking apart belong to someone familiar, it was Cecelia's head. Somehow her head managed to land into the ruined city arena after Scorpion severed it with one swift tug.

Furious at the jabberjays, Finnick threw his trident towards the birds forcing them to scatter. The trust made a loud impact as it collided with the rubble. Finnick approached his trident to retrieve it and quickly rejoined Katniss and Peeta. But as soon as the three decide to take ten more steps they saw two wolves blocking their path.

Katniss and Peeta looked at the wolves, but they didn't have human faces like the mutt wolves they encountered in their previous games. The wolves they saw were purely wolves who turned feral from radiation exposure and chronic hunger. Unlike the mutt wolves they once encountered, they weren't as aggressive. These wolves were looking to acquire Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick as their next meal, but at the same time displayed a hesitation as they stared down the trio.

Katniss readied her bow and Finnick readied his trident. "Should we kill them?" Katniss asked Finnick.

"Just scare them off," Finnick replied.

Katniss shot an arrow hitting the rubble beneath the head of one of the wolves. Both the wolves flinched from sight of the arrow and ran off into the distance. The wolves weren't going to get human flesh without a fight.

The trio continued on searching for the abandon warehouse containing the forcefield control box, but had no luck in finding it. But what they did find was more wolves. Eight wolves began to surround the three tributes . The trio armed themselves for combat.

* * *

Finnick studied the predicament they were in and saw no way out. Finnick gave out his analysis, "Looks like we got to fight our way out of this one."

Finnick armed his trident threatening to slay any who dared get close. Meanwhile Katniss began to take aim searching for the first one who dared attack. Peeta began picking up rocks and stones ready to hurt any who moved. It remained a standstill for 20 seconds, till a wolf starring at Peeta charged in.

Katniss was unable to refocus her aim on the wolf determined to attack Peeta. Peeta reacted by throwing some rubble causing the incoming wolf to slow down, which Finnick followed up with a stab to the wolf with his trident.

"One down, seven left. Who's next?" Finnick said taunting the wolves.

"Make that 6." Katniss answered as she slew another wolf that died trying to capitalize on the distraction.

The wolves responded by growling louder.

Peeta: "They look angry now."

One of the wolves decided to howl unleashing a loud noise,  
"wwwwoooohhhuuummmwwwwoooohhh uuummm".

Katniss: "Shit, NO!" Katniss reacted as she shot and killed the wolf howling out loud.

Katniss explained, "It's calling for help, we need to make a choice. Either we try to kill the remaining 5 quickly or we better run."

The three of them hesitated on what to do. Now the wolves were angry and more would soon be arriving. However, their seven seconds of indecision wouldn't matter as all five wolves decided to unanimously charge them at once.

Peeta threw the some rocks at the wolf coming towards him. All of which missed.

Katniss tired to concentrate on her moving target. She aimed and fired, miss. With that miss, the wolf came lunging in towards her head. Katniss reacted by shielding herself with her right forearm hoping to spare her face from the wolf's saliva drenched teeth.

Luckily for her, Finnick intervened and slew the wolf in mid air before it clawed her. But stepping in to save Katniss left Finnick's back exposed and also left Peeta vulnerable.

Peeta saw a wolf coming straight towards him. In panic he yelled, "Aaaaahhhhhh!" as he braced for impact.


	13. Chapter 13: Reunion

**Chapter 13 - Reunion**

The wolves were about to overwhelm Katniss, Finnick, and Peeta. But in the distance the loud sound of a flare erupted into the sky.

After hearing the noise, the remaining four wolves decided to turn around and retreat. The wolves scattered and ran away from both the trio and away from the direction of the flare gun noise.

As the three saw the wolves run scared, they turned their heads towards the direction of the flare gun noise. In that direction they saw a man holding binoculars looking at them in one hand and the flare gun in the other. He was accompanied by a man armed with a spear and a woman armed with an axe.

"It's Johanna!" exclaimed Finnick in joy.

Finnick, Katniss, and Peeta strided towards the direction of Johanna and her companions. "You just couldn't have chosen to make a more dramatic entrance," Finnick said to Johanna as he greeted them.

"Credit Beetee for saving you, he was the one with the eyes and the gun," replied Johanna in a humble tone.

Peeta: "Um thanks Beetee..."

Katniss remained focused on the threat at hand and interrupted the reunion with, "Let's not forget more wolves will be arriving soon, I don't want to downplay the occasion and your rescue, but our lives are still in danger."

Beetee chimed in and made a suggestion, "Not sure how much food your sponsors gave you, but if you still have any left we can use that to distract some of the wolves while we escape."

Katniss thought to herself, "Wow what a great idea. No wonder why they were able to survive in this arena for so long." She also felt kind of disappointed she didn't think about that earlier.

"Great idea, let's do that and move out," Katniss said to complement Beetee.

* * *

The party unloaded most of their remaining food to distract the horde wolves, as they made their escape. However a small pack of wolves were still on the pursuit.

As they were running Blight asked, "How do we find the warehouse again? And how do we know it's the right one."

Beetee answered: "Look for a building with a number 11."

As they were running Katniss got the idea to run backwards and attempt to slay kill a wolf with her bow. She fired, but the arrow had completely missed.

"Don't bother, just keep moving." Johanna suggested.

As they kept moving, Peeta caught a glance of a hundreds of jabbersjays feasting on the corpses of a bunch of dead wolves. "Hey back there I just saw a lot a flock of jabberjays munching on a horde of wolves, must be our lucky break right," Peeta said to lighten up the intensity of the pursuit.

Blight conversed, "Whatever, who cares if they are dead. We need to worry about ourselves...UGFU!" As Blight was running he tripped on a stone of concrete. Blight used his forearms to brace the fall as he fell on the pebble latent floor. As Blight made contact with the floor his forearms were bleeding, and was he unable to recover to his feet.

"Help. Don't leave me. I got a family back in District 7." Blight pleaded to the party.

Peeta noticed Blight fall and the fear on Blight's face. "Hey slow down! Blight tripped and fell, we got to help him."

Finnick and Beetee were in front of the party and didn't realize Blight was down till they heard Peeta's voice. When they did they turned around to assist the wounded Blight.

As Finnick and Peeta were attending the injured Blight. Johanna and Katniss turned around to battle the incoming wolves. They saw two wolves running towards them. Standing still Katniss took aim and flawlessly killed the first wolf.

Then just as the other wolf attempted to lunge towards Johanna, she countered with one graceful swing of her axe instantly killing it.

"Score one for the ladies," Johanna commentated as she stuck her hand out to fist pump Katniss in celebration. Katniss look at Johanna's gesture and was confused with what a fist pump meant. "Opps my bad, I forgot I'm not in district 7 anymore. And I guess every district has its own way of congratulating each other," Johanna said to ease the confusion. Katniss looked at Johanna and smiled at her admission of dumbfoundedness.

Blight got up to his feat, and was bleeding profusely from his forearms. "I'm fine. I can walk. You can both let go," Blight said to Finnick and Peeta to dismiss their aid.

Meanwhile Johanna took the moment to observe their surrounds and said, "Hey that's odd I swore we were being chased by more than two wolves. What happened to them?"

Humiliated and frustrated Blight replied, "Who knows. Maybe they gave up or found some dead animal to feed on. Let's just figure out how to get out of here. I just want to get out alive to see my wife and child."

"Well that means we can take our time finding the warehouse." Beetee told the party.

After an half hour of brisk walking they finally found the warehouse.

* * *

Inside the warehouse, the party decided to rehydrate with leftover drinks they were carrying. After Beetee took his refresher, he proceeded to search the warehouse for the forcefield control box. While the other 5 engaged in gossip.

"Hey Blight are you alright? You're still bleeding from that fall" Katniss asked Blight taking occasional sips at her canteen of water.

"So what?! Poor Blight fell, and begged for his life. Don't make fun of me." Blight responded in defense.

"Uh you don't have to feel so humiliated about it." Katniss then showed Blight her shoulder injury. "I got pretty messed up myself." Katniss responded hoping to lighten up Blight.

Finnick then approached the two and chuckled. "And... Uh...I was kind of responsible for that shoulder injury.

The three of them took a moment to laugh over it.

* * *

Johanna began to strike a conversation with Peeta.

Peeta was staring at the ceiling thinking. He remembered Katniss telling him how falling in love was just a ploy to get sponsorships, and how their marriage was just a show. Peeta thought their love would turn real, but wasn't so sure anymore. When Katniss was unresponsive to his voice at the cave, it made him question the status of their love. Peeta knew if there was anyone Katniss truly did love more than anything it was Prim.

Johanna noticed Peeta in a trance and tired to speak with him. "Hey what yea thinking about?"

Peeta was caught off guard and answered, "Uh just thinking about life after all this is over. I just don't think every is going as smoothly as I expected."

Johanna listened. "Don't worry I am sure life we be better once we all escape. You'll figure it out." Johanna proceeded to kiss Peeta on the cheek to cheer him up.

However, Katniss caught a glimpse of the kiss and walked towards them. "Hey what's going on?" Katniss question.

"Peeta looks kind of upset, you should try cheering him up." Johanna answered politely.

Katniss: "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please...ugh nevermind I forgot what I was about to say...I mean I know you think you have to befriend us, but Finnick told me about it."

Johanna was confused. Katniss was nervous and decided to change the subject, but ended up creating more confusion. "I'm not understanding what you trying to say, are you suggesting that I have a crush on your husband. I don't recall telling Finnick anything about that. Or are you saying you never tried to cheer Peeta up if you know what I mean." Wick Wick

Katniss felt embarrassed. "No I am not accusing you of hitting on Peeta. It's that Finnick told me you had this plan of betraying me to remove my tracker, but since I already know about it you don't have make it look like you killed me."

Johanna: "Oh that. I think we can agree scrap that plan once Beetee shuts down the forcefield. Don't mean to be personal, but are you jealous?"

Katniss got even more red, "No I am not. Just forget about it."

Finnick stopped eavesdropping and said to Katniss, "You kind of cute when you're nervous."

Katniss gave Finnick a threatening glare then responded, "I'm just going to go practice some shots right now." she briskly walked away and stopped trying to socialize.

A few moments later, From across the room Beetee yelled, "Yes found it!"

Beetee eventually found the forcefield control box and began studying the circuitry on how to unpower it with the wire he snagged back at Cornucopia.

* * *

The calm would soon come to an end as they heard the words "**GET OVER HERE!**" in the distance causing everyone to momentarily freeze in terror.

Katniss saw Peeta standing next to Beetee's binocular that was lying on the floor. "Peeta pass me the binoculars," she commanded. Peeta picked up the binoculars and passed them to Katniss as she ran up the steps towards the second floor catwalk to look from a ledge what was going on.

She put on the binoculars and saw Scorpion wheeling in a wolf with his kunai. The kunai pierced through the poor wolf's neck and it was still alive. Scorpion tugged and tugged the chains of the kunai till the wolf was in the palm of his hands. He then proceeded to put his fingers in the wolf's mouth fishooking it. Another wolf attempted to surprised Scorpion while his attention was focused on the wolf he had in his hand. But the surprise attack failed as Scorpion countered by kicking the sprinting wolf 20 feet into the air and directly into an exposed steed rod piercing the wolf's stomach. The wolf's blood stained the steel rod and blood could be seen dripping out of the puncher hole of its stomach. Scorpion then returned his attention on the wolf whom he was fish hooking. To annihilate the animal, Scorpion prompted open its mouth forcing the jaw to snap off of its head.

"Well I guess that explains what happened to all the wolves." Katniss said softly to herself.

She then looked more carefully with the binoculars and noticed something else. Katniss discovered Scorpion was following the trail of blood Blight left behind.

Katniss shouted to the rest of the group. "Folks bad news. Scorpion's following us!"


	14. Chapter 14: Sacrifice

**Chapter 14 - Sacrifice**

In would only be a matter of minutes before Scorpion reached the district tributes. Beetee needed more time to deactivate the forcefield. A decision had to be made.

Finnick suggested, "If we all stood our ground here do you think we can defeat Scorpion?"

Johanna listened to Finnick's last stand idea and presented her opinion, "Bad idea. Beetee needs to work on shutting down the forcefield, he can't move and would be an easy target to kill. If Beetee dies in the frenzy, we have no means in escaping from the arena."

Blight then offered another idea, "Looks like we got to send a party outside to distract him. Any volunteers? Well except for Beetee."

"Hold on." Katniss interrupted. "If someone can hold the binoculars. I am going to try to shoot him with an arrow from over here on the ledge. He doesn't seem to know I'm watching him. It appears, all he seems to notice is Blight's trail of blood."

Finnick ran up the steps to hold the binoculars for Katniss. Katniss readied and aimed her bow at Scorpions heart. She took a few seconds to still her hands and calm her breathing. She knew their survival depended on this one shot, and could not afford to miss. She aimed then released the arrow.

* * *

Scorpion had no clue he was about to get sniped. He did not see Katniss and Finnick from the warehouse's second floor ledge. As the arrow was released into the air, it looked like the arrow would hit Scorpion right in the heart.

However, Scorpion heard a disturbance in the air caused by the air friction of the arrow. Just as the arrow was about to strike Scorpion in the heart he performed a sharp right-side pivot causing the arrow to miss and merely glaze his right arm. The shot missed, and their chance of easily eliminating Scorpion was gone.

Even worst, the missed shot revealed to Scorpion their position as he caught a glimpse of Katniss and Finnick frozen in disbelief that he evaded the fatal shot. It would now be only a matter of a couple of minutes before Scorpion arrived.

"Shit, he dodged the shot. Even worst he saw us, so he knows our location." Katniss warned the party.

Blight further explained his strategy, "Looks like someone is going to have to intercept him. My suggestion is Finnick and Katniss try to stop him. While us three guard Beetee till he finishes. Finnick is the best fighter out of all of us, and Katniss you're the only one of us who is skilled with a long ranged weapon."

"No! No! No! Stop!" Peeta interrupted Blight. "Trying to fight Scorpion is suicide. Whoever is going to distract him will die. If this guy easily killed the Careers, we don't stand much of a chance."

They all let the grim reality sink in. Whoever they send out to create a diversion will end up dead. A sacrifice had to be made.

Peeta broke the grim mood, "If there was rational who should out there it should be, which of us least deserves to live. And out of all of us, I am the one who doesn't deserve to live."

Peeta was volunteering to die, he was volunteering to save the remaining tributes, and to save Katniss.

Peeta continued his speech, "Look guys, I have nothing to live for. I have a family who doesn't care about me. A wife who doesn't really love me. But all of you have something to live for. Finnick you got Annie waiting for you back home. Blight you have a family as well. Katniss you got Prim waiting for you, and you have a Gale. (To Katniss) Forget about me. I have nothing. But knowing that I died to save your life, that gives me a purpose. Katniss I would always remember the time you kissed me in the cave, and pretend to fall in love with me. Even though it was fake, it felt so real to me, it made me the happiest man in the world. Thank you for everything, goodbye."

Katniss was stunned with sadness listening to Peeta's speech. Unaware and still trying to comprehend Peeta's farewell, Peeta snuck one last kiss on Katniss lips. He then spirited out of the warehouse leaving everyone behind.


	15. Chapter 15: Regret

**Chapter 15 - Regret**

After hearing Peeta's speech everyone was shedding tears. Even Beetee fought to hold back his emotions as his priority was disabling the forcefield.

The tear-filled Johanna spoke to the rest of the group, struggling to remain coherent as she was overwhelmed with emotion. "Peeta isn't the one who least deserves to live... It's me! I had a family. A mother, father, younger brother, and younger sister... I got them all killed...sigh now's not the time to get emotional girl."

Finnick understood what she meant by causing her whole family to die. Snow threatened to kill Annie if he refused to sell himself. Johanna was in the same predicament, but unlike Finnick she refused and lost her family for doing so.

Johanna took a moment to collect her emotions and continued speaking, "Emotions aside, Peeta won't be able to distract Scorpion for long. He took off without taking anything. He needs help. I am going."

Just as Johanna was about to take off with an axe in her hand and combat knife in her pocket, but before she exited Beetee shouted, "The landmines, take them!"

"Right!" Shouted Johanna as she retrieved the backpack containing them while wiping away tears.

Johanna's last words to the party were, "Blight, Katniss, Finnick...just keep Beetee safe. Our escape depends on him."

* * *

About a minute had passed since Johanna had taken off. There was no sound of canon fire. Katniss kept replaying in her mind Peeta's last words, "A wife who doesn't really love me." Those words, kept replaying in her head followed by the sensation of Peeta sneaking in a farewell kiss, and then that memory was followed by their first kiss in the cave.

"Peeta!" Katniss screamed in eureka breaking her trance. "I'm coming for you, just hang in there!"

Katniss too proceeded to head towards the exit of the warehouse, but Finnick attempted to stop her. Finnick ran up reaching for her left arm.

"Don't go!" Finnick said as he closed in.

Katniss then turned around with her bow and arrow readied aimed straight at Finnick's head. "Don't try to stop me. If you take one more step I will kill you."

Finnick froze and stood still. Finnick tried to reason with Katniss as she descended back into the ruined city. "You're the mockingjay. The rebellion depends on your survival. Prim needs you. Don't throw away your life."

"I don't care," Katniss replied.

Finnick and Blight did nothing to stop Katniss from leaving. There was now only Finnick and Blight in the warehouse to protect Beetee incase the other 3 failed. Finnick was upset that both Johanna and Katniss left to confront Scorpion, he felt powerless knowing they would be walking into their deaths.

Blight attempted to cheer Finnick up with his words, "Women, they sure know how to cause drama."


	16. Chapter 16: Confrontation

**Chapter - 16 Confrontation**

Peeta's priority was to stall Scorpion as long as he could so the others could escape. As he backed tracked he noticed Scorpion walking in the center of the road. To avoid a direct confrontation, he concealed himself in the ruins of a destroyed building, and hid behind the columns. Peeta palmed a rock and his heart was beating intensely as he pondered when to throw it.

As Scorpion had just passed by the column he was hiding behind, Peeta threw the rock at Scorpion. The rock managed to hit Scorpion in the back.

Scorpion was unharmed by the rock, and his attention became fixed on killing the rock thrower. Scorpion slowly walked towards the column where Peeta was hiding behind.

Luckily for Peeta he sneaked out of his hiding spot, and into a hole of an adjacent building.

As Scorpion walked straight up to the column, he smashed it with a hammer fist causing the column to collapse and debris to fall near it. Surely, if Peeta would have stayed stationary he would've died.

As the rocks and rubble of the building collapsed, Peeta decided to use the loud ruckus it caused to transition into a new hiding spot across the road. Again he had Scorpion's back and decided to throw another rock at him.

However, this time the rock missed and made noise as it made contact with the concrete rubble. Scorpion turned around looking for the sneaky pest creating the nuisance. But Peeta was nowhere to be seen.

Again Peeta snuck out of his hiding spot and into a new one. In the meantime Scorpion decided to investigate the source of the second annoyance by sticking his neck out and around the column, but again no culprit was found.

It seemed as though Peeta had a system to divert Scorpion. For the third time Peeta caught a glance of the ninja's back, and picked up another rock. However this time, when Peeta peaked again to throw the rock Scorpion was nowhere to be seen.

Peeta thought to himself where did he go? But oblivious to Peeta, Scorpion was right behind him

**"Face me you coward!"** Scorpion taunted as he kicked Peeta from his hiding spot and into the open road.

The kick caused Peeta to roll into the road. Peeta was sitting on his buttock, as he saw Scorpion walk onto the open road. Now Peeta was out in the open with nowhere to hide and with Scorpion only a few feet over him.

As he saw Scorpion walk closer and closer, Peeta turned around and tried to get up and run. But just as Peeta took off, Scorpion yelled, **"Get Over Here!"** launching his trademark attack.

The kunai pierced through the air and into Peeta's right leg causing blood to spatter on impact.

"Aaaahhhh!" screamed Peeta in pain.

Scorpion then tried to wheel Peeta in like a caught fish. But just as he was tugging on his chain, a hand axe came flying towards Scorpion's back.

* * *

The hand axe landed into Scorpion's back right shoulder, and the impact caused Scorpion to stop tugging. With the axe stuck in his back, Scorpion turned around unphased staring at Johanna.

"Take that you yellow monster." Johanna shouted at Scorpion.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Peeta unhooked himself from the kunai and crawled back into hiding.

Scorpion no longer cared about Peeta and his attention was now focused on Johanna. Scorpion removed the hand axe stuck in his back and threw the axe to the ground demonstrating how futile the attack was.

Seeing this, Johanna ran out of Scorpion's sight and Scorpion pursued her.

Johanna was planning on luring Scorpion to the three landmines she had planted. If she could trick Scorpion into triggering the landmines, the tributes would have a chance in slaying him.

Johanna ran to the spot where she had set the trap with the landmines. She took a moment to do a 360 degree scan and Scorpion wasn't in sight.

"Where is he," Johanna said to herself. Just as Johanna was about to complete her 360 degree scan Scorpion stood right behind her.

"Eh," Johanna reacted just as she felt the back of her head contact Scorpion's chest.

Scorpion quickly grabbed Johanna by the throat, and lifted her up so her two feet no longer made contact with the floor. Johanna was getting choked, she could feel the pressure on her windpipe and the air slowly being drained out of her.

While being strangled, Johanna decided to reach for the combat knife in her pocket. She fiddled trying to find it, as her hand felt the wooden handle, she attempted to grab it. However, the strain from the choke made it difficult for her to concentrate causing the knife to slip out of her pocket and out into the floor.

Scorpion's demonic gaze starred straight into Johanna's frantic terrified face. In an angry hostile tone he tormented her, "Hide and seek is over, time to die girl."

* * *

But then a male voice shouted, "Let her go!"

Peeta had return to the scene hoping to rescue Johanna just as she had recently rescued him. He was on the floor unable to get up, but kept the fight alive. He wasn't going to allow Johanna to die after saving him.

Peeta threw a barrage of small rocks at Scorpion's right side, all of which were ineffective as Scorpion continued to squeeze the life out of Johanna.

Then just as Johanna was about to lose consciousness, three arrows pierced Scorpion in the back.

* * *

It was Katniss, she shot 3 arrows with one release from the balcony of an abandon rundown building.

Despite shooting Scorpion with her arrows, it merely stung Scorpion as they stuck out from his back. As a kombatant Scorpion had fought threw much worst, and would not die so easily from pathetic arrow wounds.

With surprise attack Scorpion determined the new threat was Katniss. He threw Johanna to the ground as though she was yesterday's trash, and turned around staring Katniss in the distance.

"Shit what does it take to kill this guy," Katniss said to herself as she aimed an arrow at Scorpion's head.

Katniss then released another arrow at Scorpion targeting his head. However, Scorpion countered with an attack of his own. **"Come Over Here!"** Scorpion countered with his infamous trademark attack.

Scorpion's kunai collided with Katniss' arrow causing the arrow to fall of trajectory, and Katniss had a kunai coming towards her face. Seeing the sharp object and long chain flying towards her, with her reflexes she tilted her head sideways causing the kunai to graze her left cheek.

Katniss' left cheek began to drip with blood; luckily it was merely a flesh wound. But she needed to make another move. To help her decide what to do, she could her Johanna's voice screaming in the distance.

"The landmines! Shoot the landmines." Johanna screamed with her remaining voice.

Katniss took a scan looking for them. She looked to her left, then to her right, and couldn't find them. But then she could see a small flashing red light underneath a pile of rocks. She took aim at the lights releasing another arrow.

_Boom! Boom! Boom!_ The landmines exploded creating a chain reaction.

The massive explosion had caused the building surrounding Scorpion, Johanna, and Peeta to cave in and collapse burying them in rubble. Even Katniss feel unconscious as the shockwave from the explosion caused the building she was in to topple thus knocking her out.

Dust and debris filled the sky. It would be a mystery who survived until the dust settles.


	17. Chapter 17: Deception

**Chapter 17 - Deception**

After hearing the explosion caused by the three landmines, Finnick and Blight were confused whether the sound was due to the landmines or due to the canon fire signaling a tributes death. Finnick hoped Peeta, Johanna, and Katniss were still alive. But Finnick would have to worry about the fate of allies as he would soon be occupied with a threat of his own.

Beetee was close to deactivating the arena forcefield. He mumbled to himself, "just got to rewrite the yellow and blue wire, then connect the green and the red..."

The arena sky quickly flashed as though multiple lightning bolts just struck.

Beetee exclaimed in hurrah, "I did it the forcefield is down, we can  
finally es..."

But Before Beetee was able to finish his words, a spear pierced his chest.

"Thanks, genius now I can escape with my reward" Blight said betraying Beetee

**Boom! **Signaled Beetee's death.

"What the fuck Blight!" Finnick shouted in anger.

Blight answered, "With those three fools trying to fight Scorpion, Brutus nowhere to be found, and the forcefield down, I can finally escape alive with my reward."

Finnick began his interrogation, "What reward is worth Beetee's life? He trusted you, we trusted you. How could you do this to us?"

Blight: "Well I suppose I can give you answers, you'll soon be dead anyways. You see, I was once a part of your rebellion till plans changed... The night before the games, I had a private conversation with President Snow."

Finnick: "And what did he promise you for your betrayal? Let me guess riches beyond your wildest dreams. And I suppose you told Snow the details of our escape to join the rebellion. You must be the reason for Scorpion and all this chaos."

Blight: "Not quite. When Snow confronted me about an escape I, pretended not to know. But he told me to drop the act since he already knew everything from the mystic known as Quan Chi. The mystic foresaw everything and devised a plan to send Scorpion in the games. Snow offered me a deal merely for insurance purposes."

When Finnick heard the words "Quan Chi" he knew he heard them before but struggled to recall the details.

Blight continued, "Snow is a smart man, in case Scorpion failed he hired me to finish off the loose ends. In exchange my family members, including my wife and child, would be granted Captiol citizenship and riches. Seeing that Peeta, Johanna, and Katniss are missing in action. It only leaves you and Beetee as remaining rebels. And with the forcefield gone I wasn't going to let you and Beetee escape so fast."

Finnick didn't pay attention, he was fixated on two words. "Quan Chi"

Blight stared into Finnick's dazed eyes knowing his mind was daydreaming. He continued rambling to feel Finnick out, "I waited till now for two reasons. I had to be sure Johanna, Peeta, and Katniss were dead or at least soon would be. Two, with the forcefield down I can escape without having to worry about Scorpion. And by some miracle those three fools are still alive I'll blame Beetee's death on you and tell them you killed him, then backstab them...

Blight saw Finnick wasn't paying attention, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to kill Finnick, Blight charged in with his spear.

**Boom!**

Finnick's reflexes kicked in causing him to side step Blight's attack and counter with his trident piercing through Blight's chest.

"Sorry to disappoint, but don't underestimate us Careers." Finnick said to mock the slain Blight.

Finnick then glanced at Beetee's dead body, "Sorry bud, but Quan Chi means bad news... If I could just remember where I heard his name before."

Finnick concentrated intensely to recall how he heard of Quan Chi, and it finally occurred to him.

"Quan Chi is the man responsible for the apocalypse that destroyed the world before Panem existed."

* * *

_(Finnick's flashback scene)  
_  
Finnick got an offer to pleasure a female client. Finnick came into her dim lit bedroom fully dressed to impress.

Finnick walked close to the female client teasing her, "My services don't come cheap, money won't suffice, but secrets will." Finnick began stripping off his shirt exposing his rock hard abs.

Finnick continued with his seduction "So tell me what secrets do you have to offer?"

The mistresses replies, "A secret so precious not even the President or neither any of the highest officials know."

Finnick was intrigued, and hopped into her bed to slowly massage her bare naked skin. "So tell me what secret could be so taboo not even the President knows."

She replied, "The story behind how the world ended."

Finnick was curios as he listened intensely to her words.

Mistress: "Long ago before the world we know as Panem existed, the world was known as Earthrealm. Earthrealm was filled with cities, monuments, and was thriving with life. It was so valuable invaders frequently sought to conqueror the realm.

To protect Earthrealm from invaders, the god of thunder, Raiden, agreed the realm may only be conquered for as long as the invaders defeated Earthrealm warrior in a tournament known as Mortal Kombat. For losing Mortal Kombat would allow the invading realm to merge with it, ultimately destroying it.

In Earthrealm's last tournament of Mortal Kombat, A sorcerer from the Netherealm known as, Quan Chi, challenged Raiden and his warriors. In the end, Raiden and his warriors lost Mortal Kombat thus allowing for Netherealm's takeover of Earthrealm.

Despite losing in Mortal Kombat, Raiden refused to allow Netherealm to merge with Earthrealm, so Raiden decided to cheat and prevented the merger. Raiden stole Quan Chi's amulet containing unphantomable power. He released the power of the amulet causing a halt to Netherealm's takeover. But, such a transgression had angered the elder gods, and as a result Raiden was forever punished by the elder gods. It is unknown whatever happened to Raiden ever since.

As for Earthrealm, the partial merger had destroyed most of the human population and made much of the land uninhabitable. After hundreds of years survivors formed the nation we now know as Panem.

And lastly, as for Quan Chi he remained stuck on this incomplete limbo-merged realm. Without his amulet he could no longer return home to Netherealm. Rumor has it he became a wandering mystic seeking to return home. In order for that to happen, he would require another tournament of Mortal Kombat to complete the merger."

* * *

_(Revert to present)_

Finally Finnick had figured it out. In this year's games the tributes are not just fighting in the 75th hunger games, but also as contestants, on behalf of Earthrealm, in a game of Mortal Kombat.


	18. Chapter 18: Animality

**Chapter 18 – Animality**

**WARNING: This is probably the goriest and most graphic chapter in the entire story. Heck, this chapter may even be the goriest fan fic you have ever read.**

**If the previous fatalities made you cringe, this one certainly will. If that's the case, I suggest you skip and not read this chapter.**

* * *

Cough, cough, cough. Johanna had finally regained consciousness from the explosion. She was stained from dust and debris of the buildings that had collapse due to the explosion. Blood was dripping from a small cut on her forehead. Johanna tried to get up but her body wouldn't listen to her. She was rattled and still trying to recover from the shock.

"Ew, what happened?" Johanna asked herself. "Am I dead?"

The sunlight in front of her disappeared as the shadow of a man hung over her, **"Not yet, but will soon."**

Scorpion stood right over her. Like Johanna, he too had sustained cosmetic wounds from the blast. His yellow outfit was stained with dust and was filled with fabric tears and partial rips. Throughout his body spots of blood could be seen, but those wounds did not hinder Scorpion's ability to fight and move.

However the blast had seriously rattled Johanna. Seeing Scorpion in front of her, she needed to fight back. But she could barely move her body, so running or fighting wasn't an option. Her only option was stealth and surprise. She nimbly searched through the ruined floor finding the combat knife she had dropped. She carefully concealed it as Scorpion lifted her up by pulling her hair.

"Ooowwww," Johanna cried out from the tug of her hair. Like before she was lifted off her feet staring in Scorpion's soulless white eyes. Johanna did her best to resist the pain and cautiously armed herself with the concealed knife. Johanna prepared to stab Scorpion with it.

Just as she gripped the knife, Scorpion's palm covered her hand. Scorpion had predicted the surprise and crushed her hand forcing her to relinquish the blade. Scorpion easily pried the knife from her hands and took possession of it. He then proceeded to waive the metal sharp blade around her lips and down towards her chest and stomach, taunting her about her inevitably demise.

Then Scorpion stared into Johanna's eyes, he had a much more sinster plan in stored. "You deserve the cross," Scorpion said in a deep sadistic tone.

Scorpion pocketed Johanna's knife and carried Johanna by her long hair towards a nearby stone pillar shaped like a cross. Scorpion planned on crucifying her to death.

To do so, he extended her left arm so it was perfectly horizontal and straight. Scorpion then pulled out a metal chain tying her left arm to the left end of the stone pillar, he wrapped the chain around her arms up about four times over then finished locking her left arm in place by stabbing the kunai between her ulna and radius bones and straight into the stone pillar.

"Gaaaaahhhhh, STOP!" Johanna complained as she felt the kunai pierce into her forearm.

Scorpion then proceeded to do the same with her right arm. He lied it straight, wrapped it around in chain four times over, then stabbed it between her forearm bones to lock her in place.

Johanna continued to cry in desperation, "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!, My arm! My arm! The pain it hurts."

To complete her crucifixion, Scorpion tied together her legs and nailed it in place with a long steel rod he found on the floor, piercing the rod through both of her stacked legs.

Johanna eyes began to pop out from the pain of having the rod pierce through both her shin bones. She continued to weep in agony, "Eeeeeewwwwwhhhhhhhh! My legs, I...I...can't move them. You...You…sick monster!"

Johanna's body lied like a t, blood from the piercing in her arms and legs could be seen dripping onto the pebble infested floor. Now Even if Johanna's body had fully recovered from the shock of the landmine explosion, she would be unable to move as she lied nailed on display for all of Panem to see.

Scorpion taunted the crucified Johanna, "You shouldn't have planted those landmines. Now, this is how you pay."

Johanna was shivering in pain, but she was furious at the same time. She wanted to kill Scorpion for suffering he had brought through the crucifixion. Being unable to move any of her limbs she fought back by spitting into Scorpion's left eye.

Johanna challenged, "You evil bastard! You have no humanity, you hunt us like prey. For fucks sakes kill me already!"

Scorpion responded in a hateful tone, "No your punishment must be more severe. You expected to blow me up with the landmines, so I'll return to you what you deserve…You say I have no humanity, I'll show you the meaning of no humanity."

Scorpion looked out his surrounding to see hunger jabberjays lying around. The scent of Johanna's blood had aroused them. They were waiting to feast on Johanna's flesh once she died from the blood lost.

"Why make them wait." Scorpion commented as he devised an even more sinister idea.

Johanna saw Scorpion's eyes peaking at the jabbersjays, she began to comprehend what he was scheming. Johanna pleaded to the ninja, "No please, you wouldn't! That's…that's… too cruel. I take back what I said, have some mercy for god's sake."

"Not in Mortal Kombat!" Scorpion replied.

Unfortunately for Johanna, she had provoked the monster and would now suffer the consequences.

* * *

Scorpion pulled out Johanna's knife and began to cut an incision around her chest. He carved threw her clothing and into layers of her skin making a Y-shaped pattern, as though she were on the operating table for a living autopsy. Then Scorpion made another incision around Johanna's chest, encasing the Y-shaped but with a rectangle. It appeared Scorpion had carved out a peace symbol on Johanna's body, but what Scorpion would do next would be anything but peaceful.

Scorpion stuck his fingers into the blood gushing incision he had drawn on Johanna's chest.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!" Johanna screamed in tremendous pain feeling his fingers melt through her flesh and into her bones.

As Scorpion's fingers went deeper it made contact with her rib cage. And when they did, Scorpion proceeded to rip out her flesh, piece by piece, slowly removing the layer of protection concealing her internal organs from the carnivorous jabberjays.

"No please stop... Aaaahhh... I beg of you don't do this...aaahhh...show some mercy!" Johanna continued to plea desperately to Scorpion. However, Scorpion didn't listen and didn't care.

Scorpion ripped out pieces of her flesh and threw it onto the ground, like how home remodelers rip off old wallpaper from a wall they are trying to remodel. As her skin was torn off her body, Johanna watched helplessly as jabberjays flew towards the pieces of her torn off skin to munch on them.

Then Scorpion proceeded to rip out another piece of her skin allowing Johanna to witness jabberjays devour her breast from the raw bloody insides. Pieces kept flying out one by one attracting flocks of blood thirsty jabberjays.

Eventually Scorpion had finished tearing off all the flesh concealing her vital organs. She felt naked as her anatomy was on display for all of Panem to see. Her heart could been seen pumping beeaabump, beeaabump, beeabump...her lungs and diaphragm could be seen inflating and deflating for each breathe she took...her digestive track was exposed allowing all to see the process of digestion as food in her intestines were pushed threw her bowls...and also the insides of her reproductive system including her ovary sacks, and uterus were quite visible.

* * *

Caesar Flickerman had just thrown up.

He vomited, but had to do his job and comment the horror he was watching, "Holy shit, this is disgusting. She ain't dead yet, so we can't call it a (eeeffffttt, more vomits) fatality, but from the feeding frenzy we can say this is an **Animality!**"

Caesar then tried to crack a few jokes to make fun of the situation, "Hopefully Johanna enjoyed her last supper." No laughter, no applause. Casear fired another joke, "If jabberjays played the hunger games this is what it would look like." Again, no laughter or applause from the mortified audience.

Knowing the joke failed to undermine the live spectacle of human torture, Casear said on a more serious note, "Folks, this doesn't look like a hunger games anymore, but something worst, much worst."

* * *

Johanna lied crucifixed and stripped, not of her clothes but stripped of her flesh. Like a car on exhibit without a engine hood, Johanna was on display for Panem to watch die. Her vital organs were on display teaching everyone whose watching a basic lesson in human anatomy. It was as though Panem got a free admission to the Body Worlds Exhibit. Her heart, lungs, rib cage, stomach, liver, gallblader, pancreas, intestines, spleen, kidneys, and ovaries were all on display to the public.

Scorpion began walked away allowing the jabberjays to finish her. He walked away and began searching for Katniss or Peeta to kill.

Meanwhile jabberjays got to enjoy a tasty meal. After they devoured the pieces of flesh separated from her body, the birds began to swarm her by peaking at her vital organs.

"Aaaaaaahhhhh! My Kidney, you took My Kidney!" Johanna yelled as jabberjay sniped it and flew off with her kidney in its beak. Then another jabberjay flew towards her reproductive system snatching her ovaries. "Nooooo don't take those, give em back!" Next another jabberjay peeked away at her liver stealing it as it flew off with it in its mouth, like a bandit stealing valuable treasure. Aaaaahhhh don't take that I need those," Johanna cried in extricating pain.

As Johanna listened more carefully, she thought she could hear the jabberjays speaking words in English. In particular they mimicked voices that resembled her mother, father, brother, and sister. The jabberjays kept saying "You killed us!" in the voice of one of her family members as they munched on her as food.

"I'm sorry." Johanna yelled as she heard the voices.

**"Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!..."**Johanna continuously repeated these words as she was experienced the torture of being eaten alive.

* * *

The sound of her non-stop agonizing voice had caused Katniss to wake up.

"Eeeewww," Katniss said to herself as though she had been awaken from a deep slumber by an alarm clock.

Her vision was blurry, but she knew something was not right. She saw a human nailed into concrete pillar with a horde of jabberjays surrounding her chest and torso. As her vision cleared she realized it was Johanna, and she was being eaten alive by jabberjays.

Katniss kept hearing Johanna repeat the words "make it stop!", Katniss knew Johanna deserved better, and didn't deserve to suffer thru this hideous torture. She looked around desperately trying to find her bow, and when she did find it, she fired an arrow straight into Johanna's head killing her instantly.

**Boom! **Signaled Johanna's death

Johanna's voice was no more, and Katniss was relieved. She rested by dropping her bow near her legs, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath to repress the horror she had just witnessed.

But when Katniss reopened her eyes she saw a blood stained boot standing on top of her bow, preventing her from moving it. Filled with fright she tilted her head towards the sky, and she could she Scorpion's demonic gaze staring right into her eyes.

Scorpion: "So you're the mockingjay. The one Snow wants dead so desperately. Time to hear the mockingjay sing her last song."


End file.
